Satan, the devil, the serpent of old, the adversary, Hates God. And his desire is to deceive and keep as many as he can away from God and His promises. He seeks to counterfeit everything that God does. Leading astray all those who lust according to the flesh. Those who seek temporary earthly pleasures rather than the truth of God's word. Scripture reveals in 2 Cor. 4:4 that "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
This does not imply that Satan is a real deity. It highlights his role as a powerful yet finite being with influence over humanity's rebellion against God. He is described in the the Bible as having temporary dominion over the world. As the Apostle John explained in 1 John 5:19 " the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one." Meaning the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Satan lures the human race today as he did aeons ago with tempting words of grandeur saying, "you will be like God." Having all authority and control over your life. Be what you want to be and do whatever your heart desires. Even if that desire is contrary to God's created order.
Satan's influence can affect a persons decisions which leads to disobedience, rebellion, even murder and thus the mocking of the God of scripture. Twisting Gods truth. And for those blinded by the god of this age to steal from what God intended for good and apply it to what God has deemed to be evil. One prime example of this decadence is the adoption of the rainbow in 1978 by the same sex offenders. A direct assault on God's command and promise to the world.
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.” The rainbow is a gift from Almighty God that He will not destroy the world again by a flood. Though God had every right as the creator to destroy everything of the known world. By His Grace he spared Noah and his family and many of the creatures that lived at the time. So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and every creature on the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-17) .
This Holy and Righteous promise from the creator of all things was hijacked and in heinous perverted fashion was adopted by those who flaught themselves as the epitome of what should be considered as a perfectly normal and preferred life to live. Which is exactly the opposite of what a Holy and Righteous God has proclaimed. And of which the Bible has much to comment about:
Ezekiel 16:49-50: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it." (Lev. 18:22 same Hebrew word for abomination meaning disgusting before God; abhorrent:strong dislike, hatred; horrible, shocking; Detestable, loathsome, or repugnant.)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:7
“The fear of the Lord adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.” – Proverbs 10:27
NOTE: In the Bible, a fool is often defined as someone who lacks wisdon and knowledge choosing to act against God's commandments or guidance (Proverbs 1:7) Fools are characterized by their PRIDE and refusal to seek knowledge, leading to negative consequences in their lives. (Proverbs 14:16).
And don’t forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, all full of lust of every kind, including lust of men for other men. Those cities were destroyed by fire and continue to be a warning to us that there is a hell in which sinners are punished. ( Jude 1:7 Living Bible)
Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,....the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.(Gen. 18:20;19:24;28)
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10)
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; (Polluted with sin and living a life contray to the nature, will, and commands of God..2 Peter 2:6)
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.(Romans 1:26-27)
“The fear of the Lord adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.” – Proverbs 10:27
Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, (Eze. 16:56)
It is a very dangerous road for the pride filled haters of God to trod upon. A wide and broad road that leads to everlasting destruction and punishment. (Matt. 7:13-14) It is the road upon which the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers to the truth of God. The god of this age??? Who is that you say? This fallen angel is referred to in many different ways. He is called the adversary, an angel of light, Belial, the father of Lies, Great Dragon, Liar, Serpent, Tempter, prince of darkness, devil, and satan and he is very real and convincing for he tells people exactly what they want to hear and do.
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” – Daniel 4:37
The serpent of old (the devil, satan) tempted our first parents in the garden of Eden with the word's "you will be like God." That they should believe him who said if they eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they would be like God. They fell for his ruze. Adam believed a lie rather than what God said, "don't eat from the tree of the the knowledge of good and evil." Or you will die. They did and as a result Paul the Apostle in his letter to the Romans tells us "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—" All sinned? Yes!! Each and every human being born into the world has inherited that sinful, fallen, corrupt and tainted nature. So death spread to all mankind. Sin and death can not be separated. The result of the transgression:
God told Adam, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19)
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There was a consequence to our first representatives of the human race not believing what God had said. The lie was attractive to them, "they shall be like God." They succumbed to satan's deception, believed a lie, and the progeny of the first man suffered the sad fate of Adams unbelief. Adam's sin was passed down to all his progeny so that all of us in Adam shall die. Death is the consequence of not believing what God had said.
“But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.” – 2 Chronicles 36:16
Every single human being ever born will be judged by what they do or do not believe about His Son. "In this is that love of God not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10) Meaning Jesus Christ satisfied or appeased God's righteous wrath against sin. God's justice and holiness are honored while allowing for the forgiveness and reconciliation of sinners. It was foreordained by God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Why was this necessary? Scripture tells us people are sinful from the moment they are conceived.(Ps. 51:5) But there are those who glory in their rebellion against God. Or are told by false teachers that God loves them and their sinful lifestyle, no matter what that is. That same sex relationships are not the abomination that the Bible says they are.
They are a people who become incensed, vocal, disruptive and even violent at such a revelation. They will scream and holler, condemn and curse anyone who dare to disagree with them. How dare anyone stop them from practicing their lifestyle. From trying to suppress what God sees as their display of wanton immorality that scripture says leads to a certain fearful eternal separation from their creator. These were the ones who threatened Lot and His guests. Surrounded the house... called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”(Have sex with them) (Gen. 19:5)
Scripture tells us Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. They were blinded by their lust and determined to commit heinous abomination forcing themselves on the guests of Lot. But the angels inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. Revealing the malevolent nature of their unrestained perverted concupiscence.
God does not take kindly to the sin of mankind. Adam and Eve's failure to believe and obey what God told them was thrown aside, unattractive, as if God was holding something back, and of course the serpent added to their mistrust of God when He told them, "You shall be like God" if you disobey God and do what God told you not to do.
And if He (God) condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of what is coming for the ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the perverted conduct of unscrupulous (degenerate) people (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from a trial, (from temptation) and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. When we all shall stand before the judgement seat of Christ. that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5:10; 2 Peter 2:6-9)
Throughout God's Word the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, we hear about Sodom and Gomorrah's wickedness, arrogance, anger and violence toward Lot and his angelic guests. And what the Bible says is the abomination that warranted intervention and the final destruction that was Sodom and Gomorrah's fiery end.
The expression of their faces bears witness against them,
And they display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves. (Isaiah 3:9)
As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7)
The whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath—(Deut. 29:23);
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; (2 Peter 2:6)
If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. (Is. 1:7);
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:28-30)
Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a waste forever. (Zep. 2:9);
But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—(Luke 17:29)
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.(Jer. 50:40);
We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine (1 Tim. 1: 9-10)
And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. (Gen. 19:28);
But Lot's wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Gen. 19:26)
Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire (the torments of Hell) on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. (Gen. 19:24-25)
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors,” says the Lord, “No one shall remain there, Nor shall a son of man dwell in it. (Jer. 49:18)
Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:32)
The fate of the wicked is a gruelsome fate. Jesus urged the people to repent and believe the gospel. The Good News. He stressed plainly that he is the only name under heaven by which anyone is saved from the ravishes of sin and the eternal damnation and destruction that awaits the enemies of God.
For the wicked will be turned into hell. (Psalm 9:17) And that is exactly what it is. An eternity for the wicked in the flames of everlasting burnings.
But God the Father gave His One and Only Son; Jesus Christ who obeyed His Father perfectly through His untainted obedience to His Father, never commiting one sin... living the life no ordinary human being could live...Who being a man without sin secured everlasting life in the Kingdom of God for all those who will believe in Him as their Savior and Lord. And desire to obey God's commands and walk worthy of the call they have recieved. For The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.(2 Peter 3:9)
Yet that did not stop God the Son from condemning the religious leaders of His time. Those who stressed obeying the commandments of men rather than the commandments of God. They confessed to each other that Jesus had to be stopped at whatever cost necessary.
Those Jewish leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy, that he a mere man claimed to be God. They convinced the gentile leaders that held spray over Israel that He was deserving of death for the things He said and thus was flogged, then nailed to the cross.
Yet this is exactly why God the Father sent His Son into the world. For it was prophesied 750 years before His birth by Isaiah in chapter 53.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Jesus the Christ fulfilled the prophecy by dieing for the sin of this world. His sacrifice was the only acceptable cure ordained by God for the transgressions of all of mankind. Nothing else would do. He was/is theosanthropos. The God-man. For it required a perfect sinless human being, to be able to accomplice our salvation. A pure, untainted sinless sacrifice for the sin of the world. And thus create an entrance into the Kingdom of God for those who believe, repent, confess and obey the The Way, The Truth and the Life.
The Fall of mankind caused the human race to be born at enmity, that is hatred, of God. People would be born with a natural adversion to having a God that they can't see or relate to telling them they can or can not do something. Born with hearts dead in trespasses and sins with a natural born adversion to God's truth and lives unwilling to respond to His commands in Scripture.
Paul addressed this problem in Ephesians 2:1-3 where he told them, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."
The most popular notion among modern day Christianity is the belief that anyone can come to God all by themselves without any regeneration from God. That there is just enough goodness in us to be born again all by oneself. Just say a sinners prayer and you're in. I had one person say to me that he recited the sinners prayer and now he had his "fire insurance" to save him from torments of hell. No life change was necessary. No hunger and thirst for righteousness on his agenda. No desire to dig into God's Word for the truth that sets you free. No passion to know the God who bought them with a price. The precious blood of Jesus Christ. No change in their lifestyle was necessary. You can continue to sin that more grace may abound kind of theology. Which is the direct oppostite of what scripture teaches. (Romans 6)
The Bible says No One can come to Jesus except if the Father who sent Him draws them. (John 6:44;65) It is God who puts into our cold dead hearts the ability and desire to accept Him as our Lord and Savior. He regenerates our heart, we understand our rebellion and sin toward God is at odds with His will and we realize we need the kind of help only God can offer. The One True and Only God who brings a lost soul from darkness to light.....from death to life.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 NKJV)
He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3;5 AMP)
God is the One who regenerates that dead heart to believe, repent, confess, trust and obey. Where once you were death in your trespasses and sins, following the course of this world; the prince of the power of the air who now works in the sons of disobedience. And who are by nature children of God's wrath. (Eph. 2:1-2)
Now born again, born from above. A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (1 Peter 2:9)
Interesting how that is totally opposite of what the world tells people. They claim that everyone is born a child of God. When in reality the Bible paints a much different picture of mankind. That we are in desperate need to know that we have been following the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, transgressing the commandments of God in the process. Sinning our way on a broad road that leads to the absense of God and the glory of His power in eternity. Where eternal destruction and everlasting punishment awaits the unbeliever. For as the Savior said, "wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Mattr. 7:13-14)
Who are those who are traveling on the road to everlasting punishment? The road that leads to everlasting separation from our creator God. Who are those who deserve God's wrath?
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans quotes the Old testement to solidify what God says of all of human kind:
"both Jews and Greeks (gentiles) are all under sin. As it is written:“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable(worthless, useless); There is none who does good, no, not one.” "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:10-11;23) Very plainly said, "ALL (every single human being) is in need of the Savior." For the Lord Jesus Himself proclaimed "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No One comes to the Father except through me."
Jesus said to a certain ruler who called Him, Good Teacher, "why do you call me good. There is no one good but God alone."(Luke 18:18-23) Prehaps Jesus was saying to him, realize if you see my works, my miracles, signs and wonders and believe I am good, then you must believe that I Am God. Sadly he did not. And he walked away.
Jesus said to those while He walked the earth, You must be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect." That is the only way to enter the kingdom of God. Only one person was. The Holy One of God. The Way, the Truth and the Life. The Word who was in the beginning with God and was God. The Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. The Son of God. "For God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be a sin offering for us. So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)
It's exactly as the hymn of old proclaims:
"Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Every single human being will be held accountable to God. All are born into this world as those triggered to commit their first sin. You may ask, well what is that? The Bible speaks of it as the carnal or fleshly mind. We have it described to us by the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 5:19 "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
The Apostle Peter tells us, "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles (Pagans, heathen)—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1 Peter 4:1-5)
The Apostle James 4:1-6 tells us: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust (want;covet) and do not have. You murder (hate) and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” NOTE: When man gives free reign to his desires, he no longer obeys the command "you shall not covet." Covetousness controls his life and this evil power may even induce him to comitt murder. (1 Kings 21:1-14)
The Apostle John tells believers: Do not love the world {of sin that opposes God and His precepts}, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust and sensual craving of the flesh and the lust and longing of the eyes and the boastful pride of life [pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father, but are from the world. The world is passing away, and with it its lusts [the shameful pursuits and ungodly longings]; but the one who does the will of God and carries out His purposes lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17) Notice: these include lust and sensual craving (unrestrained sexual longing and practices outside the bond of marriage between a man and woman)
The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 sums things up with these words: And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased (reprobate-spiritual and moral corruption) mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (verse 28-32)
Finally Paul again to the Corinthian congregation tells them," Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, (those who are sexually active ouside the marriage bond of a man and woman) nor idolaters, (worshipping or having anything that replaces or is above their love and obedience to God) nor adulterers, (sex with anyone male or female besides the one they have married) nor homosexuals, (catamites those submitting ) nor sodomites (aggressor in homosexual relationship--also mentioned in 1 Tim. 1:10), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (Note: Paul mentions three types of sexually immoral people. adulterers, (those having a sexual relationship with anyone but their wife) males who are passive in a homosexual relationship and males who practice homosexuality (active) . In Rom. 1:26 he adds the catagory of females who practice homosexuality. They plus others mentioned are explicity excluded from the kingdom of God. (adapted from footnote NIV 1995)
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved (reprobate-morally corrupt) mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32)
As you have read the condition of mankind is much worse than imagined. The heart of unredeemed mankind is evil from their youth. Sin is rampant, practiced without any thought that it shouldn't be pursued. Without any idea of the danger they are in when they stand before the judgement seat of Christ. For God will judge the world in righteousness by the man He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.(Acts 17:22-31)
As I have studied this topic of sin I have come to the conclusion that people are much worse off than they think themselves to be. There will be no excuses excepted at the judgement seat of Christ. But a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Not a born again/ born from above believer? God opening your heart to receive His gift of salvation to everlasting life? Or is God drawing you to His Son? The apostle Paul would urge you then that,"now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
Scripture tells us "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but fools despise discipline and instruction. When death takes place the soul or spirit goes to one of two places. Either to the Kingdom of God to be in the presence of God and the glory of His power. It is what Jesus calls "the joy of the Lord" in Matt. 25:23. John describes it in the new heavens and earth as "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:3-4)
Or the other option. The place for the unrepentant, the unbeliever, the one who has pulled out all the stops to sexual immorality, perversion, unrestrained licentiousness, addiction, and other numerous wicked acts that the Apostles talk about. This person ends up on that broad road that leads to destruction in what Jesus calls the outer darkness; weeping and gnashing of teeth; and a flamming fire.
It is Jesus who talks about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible. He says “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.” – Mark 9:43
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him.” – Luke 12:5
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” – Matthew 25:41
“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt.10:28)
And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matt 13:42)
“In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.” – Luke 16:23
I am not here to condemn people but to inform people. People do twists and turns of all sorts to justify their lifestyle. A year after my conversion I felt I myself could no longer stay where I was working. Certain practices were unbiblcal for me to adhere to. I was very sensative to what I now saw as sins I should not be assoctiated with. I trusted that God would provide and He did. I was blessed by God to get a postion at a Christian radio station, about a week after I resigned. And for 30 years it was where I stayed.
Many years later, at the Christian Radio Station while having a discussion with another employee concerning the subject of homosexuality, and he seemingly defended approval of it. I quoted 1 Cor. 6:9-11. Jude 1:7. Each time he made references to what he thought it really meant. Or better yet he was told what certain words meant to quash any idea that homosexuality was immoral. That it didn't mean or say what other Bible scholars have interpreted it to mean for centuries.
Then I quoted to him Romans 1: 26-27 where it says, " For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women (females) exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due."...............There was long silence........... then he said to me, "where's that?" So I told him. He was speechless.
Our country, our world is awash with these fleshly desires that the Bible speaks about. Even some Christian circles (so called) approve of these immoral practices including homosexuality. LGBT+ which includes all manner of Godless practices that encompass Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning.....they insist that a person can choose whatever gender they desire to be. Rather than the fact of the DNA by which God created them. . They try to remove from their lives any residual reminder of who they once were. Yet really what they always will be genetically. Into a frankensteinian model that rebels against, even disfigures, multilates and attempts to erase the gender to which they were born.
The misappropriation of the rainbow as the theme for the pride of the same sex movement seems to me a vast distortion of one of the most Holy and Encouraging promises of God. It appears that satan himself, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience, who has no orginal creative ideas, was busy at work in the hearts of this spiritually blinded movement. And has commandeerd God's encouraging promise and sign to humankind not to bring destruction again with a world wide flood. But has hijacked the rainbow to be the representative symbol of what God calls an abomination by which He will bring judgement on the world.
"the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition(destruction) of ungodly men._(2 Peter 3:7)
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Scripture says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it. (Jer. 17:9) And this world is highly influenced by the wicked one. In fact the Apostle Paul tells believers in Corinth, "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." ( 2 Cor. 4:4) Satan, the devil is the enemy of mankind, who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (that is drown or swallow up). How appropiate! For it seems in regards to our country our enemy is doing just that. Drowning people, Immersing them into vile temptations and practices that ruin and destroy body, soul and spirit. Practices that draw us away from the God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That Son being the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God. The Word by which all things were created, became flesh and dwelt among an unbelieving and rebellious world. Proclaiming to us all that He came that we might have life, everlasting life, and have it more abundantly for all eternity with a citizenship in the Kingdom of heaven. By His grace through faith and not of ourselves. It is God's gift to a world that desperately needs it.
That's another promise from God who is not a man that He should lie. That's the love of God. Not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. That's the agape love of God as described in the New Testament. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. It is distinguished from the other types of love by its lofty moral nature and strong character.
Prehaps God has convicted you in your soul, your inner being, that you are in need of the Savior. God is moving in your heart to cry out to Him in repentance to be forgiven, and you desire to confess, repent and be born again/ born from above by God's grace through faith into the kingdom of God. I pray that you accept His gift of everlasting life and a citizenship in heaven. For God is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance.
Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (John 11:25-27)
Jesus beckons with His word saying, " Come to me all of you who are tired. You are like people who have worked for a long time. You are like people who have carried heavy things. Come to me. If you do that, you will find a place to rest. Do what I teach you to do. Listen to my message and learn from me what is true. I am very kind and I do not make myself important. I will help you. Then you will have peace in your mind. And peace with God. (Matt. 11:28-29 EEB)
