Insults

Romans 1:41says, "Do not quarrel over opinions."  Scripture is clear on insults:

Titus 3:2 Speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 

Disagreements will happen. They are to be resolved in a gentle manner. Disagreements usually happen over differences in opinions. Opinions are viewpoints which either may or may not be based on fact. Rash people often have baseless or selfish opinions. Thoughtful people use evidence to establish their opinions. Thus, the rash person's opinion is based more on emotion, and the thoughtful person's on reason.

I personally get emotional when one trivializes or insults God. He is precious to me, and I will defend Him with my life, if comes to that. Of course, I talk bravely right now, but hope I never cower in the face of persecution as St. Peter did. I use scripture on which to base my opinions. 

Romans 12:2 (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I test my opinions using scripture to see if they hold up under scrutiny. My opinions are compared to divine wisdom, and sometimes I must change my viewpoint, but oftentimes not. Why? I have studied scripture for 56 years. I know God's word thoroughly. That doesn't make me a righteous person because the flesh is weak, but a willing recreated Christian who endeavors to do God's will.

As such, I am a "peculiar" person (1 Peter 2:9) in that I am not "conformed to this world". The world seldom agrees with my perspective on life. I wasn't always peculiar, but over time God has renewed my mind. At one time, I too had the attitude, what's in it for me? My spiritual gift has always been discernment. I don't like my gift sometimes because I don't enjoy obedience as most people do not. It's not entertaining to be a non-conformist, which Christians are called to be!

As such, I have a basis for my opinions. I have experienced life, and experienced God. I choose God! My goal was easier not to harmonize my will with God's will. That came with time.  I don't care what others think. My will is to please God. When I don't, I feel miserable. However, when I do, I don't blame others for ruining my disposition. I blame me!

Those who are "emotional" have baseless opinions. Those are worthless as teats on a boar to use the world's vernacular. People don't like to be around those with factually based opinions, but what they hate worse, is being around those with baseless opinions. With that, we should keep our opinions to ourselves - unless, of course, they are generalized so as to not offend, and supported by evidence. The evidence which I use is truth. That comes from the Word of God. Others prefer their baseless opinion over God's Word.

Let me give an instance. God detests tattoos (Lev 19:8), yet even Christians get tattoos. Of course that is not reprobation, but neither is it the will of God. Trivializing God's will is flaunting disobedience in His face. That is my opinion, but is based on God's Word. Most people tempt God by drawing worldly things on their skin anyway. Their opinion is selfish. They do what is right in their own eyes without regard to God's commands.

Their opinion in this case is merely, "It's okay for me to get a tattoo." It is a baseless opinion in the divine world of truth, but holds water in the world: Most people get tattoos, so it's okay. That's the world's standards, and not Gods. Baseless opinions are the rationalization to do and say things which are wrong in God's eyes. God accuses lawless ones of doing what's right in their own eyes (Jud 17:6).

Frankly, I don't care whether people get tattoos or not! They stain themselves, and it is none of my business. This commentary is not about tattoos; it's about insults - to God and others. Disobediences are insults to God, not to me.

On the other hand, personal insults offend me, and offend God. That's not part of the Christian love we are to demonstrate! Let me present how insults evolve:

We each live in our own worlds. That is us and our personal space. When people have different opinions one "world" bumps into the other and the "two world's" collide. The kind person will see that coming and avoid the collision. I dodge other worlds all the time for time has taught me the wisdom in doing that! It's okay, in MY world, for OTHER world's to have wrong opinions. However, I want them safe, so I write to the world (global community). In their own little world, they have the choice - to read my opinion or not to read. If they fear being convicted, they need to stay away from "Larry's world" because I write God's will. God offends most people, so to avoid offense, stay out of God's world, and mine!

I am convicted every time I read scripture. I would rather God convict me than to live the way of the world (global community) because the earth's world is made up of billions of individual worlds. Conviction comes when I am shown I'm wrong using God's standards. That is a spiritually healthy place to be. When convicted, it becomes emotional. There are four major emotional outcomes: contriteness, apathy, guilt, or anger.

I don't enjoy feeling guilty. Usually my choice is to change my opinion and actions to the satisfaction of God. That's how balanced people operate - with contriteness. Psychopaths do not care. They are apathetic to God's will. They become reprobate with time. The other response to conviction is anger. Many Christians leave the church when God's Word is out of harmony with their opinion. That is the ultimate insult to God. It's indicating to the messenger - the preacher - you are ruining MY day!

That attitude is selfish thinking. No day is YOUR day. They all belong to God! You merely are leeches using life that He provides - sucking the lifeblood out of God. Yet you think your world is divine. You are in for an unpleasant surprise when you learn discernment - your way is not the Way!

Sometimes I preface my commentary with: it will be offensive to some. I don't want those who get angry easily to be offended, so I provide that warning. My rating system is M (Mature audiences) because I don't want anyone to start shooting at my world with insults. Immature people are those who without valid arguments resort to insults or cursing.

The courteous thing to do is to be kind. A relative of mine had many and strong opinions. Few were fact-based. I learned never to argue with this irrational person because he was the supreme source of knowledge in his own eyes. I earned to smile and placate him so as to not collide our worlds. You see, that's what the gods of these individual worlds want - they want to be appeased! The truth angers small gods, so in my world I want peace. I let my relative be wrong. That didn't hurt me one bit, but was self-destructive on his part! His world was destroyed by his own actions! I took him without firing a shot or exploding his myth.

Christians are to avoid quarrelling. Although some live in their own world where they always have things their way, that is not the real world! In truth, we are all in this world together, and God's will is we all are to get along. We are to love and serve Him, not be self-serving and self-loving. The way we have of demonstrating our love for God is to revere His will, and loving his Creation. God created "the large selfish world" and our small selfish worlds. His will is that he wants us to collide with the world but not with the world of each other. We are not to conform to the world, but conform to God. If we all conform to God, our individual world's would  never collide.

How are we to avoid hurling insults at the worlds belonging to others? It's easy, if done God's way: "by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." 

Insults are angry people's futile attempt to explode the world of others. That's not nice!

The Christmas Gifts

It's Christmas time. It's a time to celebrate. "To us a child was born...", "Peace on earth, good will toward men...", "Santa Claus is coming..." "Deck the halls with bows of holly...." "Fa la la!"

In this first paragraph, I twisted the notion of Christ's Day to Our Day. In effect, the birth of Jesus was God's gift to mankind but as always, it has become our day without Jesus. Christmas, for most people, is a pretense to self-indulge. Some even refer to "My Christmas". That is of the utmost disrespect: Who made you God?

Let's look at the Christmas Story from one of the gospels - the truth about Jesus: 

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." 9 ...the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

Here we have an unknown number of "wise men" coming from the East to worship Jesus. They came bearing the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They came "to worship Him", and had "great joy". They "fell down and worshipped Him". The child was with Mary, it was not Mary who they worshipped, but the baby Jesus! After that they presented their gifts to Jesus. This one baby got the material gifts; with that the entire human race received their Gift! Jesus was born "King of the Jews". He was theirs for the accepting. Jesus was God's gift to the Jews as promised centuries before with the Abrahamic Covenant. It's worth looking at some of the key verses in that story:

Genesis 17:1 ...I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 18:1 And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground...  7 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ... 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom...

(And then Abraham begged for the Lord to save Sodom - one of the two wicked cities. Those three "men" went toward Sodom; we find them next in that city:

Genesis 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; ² And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet..."

Somehow three "men" (Gen 18:2) appeared at the tent of Abraham. One of them was "Lord" (Yĕhovah). (Gen 18:1). By the time the "three men" got to Sodom, there were two, and rather than being referred to as men they were identified as angels (Gen 19:1).

It would appear that the Lord did not go to Lot's home in Sodom. It would not be fitting for men to lust after God Himself. 

How do you suppose that the story of Abraham would relate to the birth of Jesus? The answer is that the birth of the Savior fulfilled the Abrahamic Covenant - "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?" (Gen 2:18).

This verse stands out in importance in that the promise was for "all nations". That was part of what Paul called the "mystery of God". That mystery was that salvation was always through Jesus, was always by grace, and was always for everyone. Christianity was never genetic but was for "whosoever" had the faith of Abraham - the standard of faith.

If you read Genesis 17 in its entirety you will find that the promise was through Isaac, although his grandson Jacob was "Israel". God planned well, and he was gracious to include even us Gentiles in His Plan! Thus, when Jesus was born that His birth was to save mankind:

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Thus, the Abrahamic Covenant was for the circumcised to demonstrate their "faith of Abraham". The Jews had to be circumcised (works), whereas the Gentiles were to have the "circumcision of the heart". Either way, circumcision is a sign of the Covenant.

Where am I going with this? Abraham and Sarah were "pictures" of several things to come. In this case, ancient Abraham was a picture of God who would have a "Seed" who would come to save the world. Later on, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only remaining son, as a picture of the crucifixion of Christ. It was Isaac who was the be sacrificed, not Israel, indicating it was a sacrifice for all mankind.

Notice that "three men" who turned out to be three angels came to Abraham to announce the birth of Jacob, and consequently Jesus Christ Himself! "The Angel" was God himself, the Lord Yĕhovah.

Yehu - Jesus Himself -  is seen in the Lord's name. Abraham gave them gifts. (Re-read those chapters). Now look again at the birth of Jesus.

"Wise men" came from the East bearing gifts. We assume three because there were three gifts. I submit that there were "two wise men" and that those wise men were angels of the Lord. There was a third Wise Man, and He was there as well. The Angel of God was already there in the manger. Just as he stayed not with the angels of Abraham, the Lord, beat them to the punch. He arrived in Bethlehem before the two angels!

According to Isaiah, the wise men - Gentiles - were to come from Sheba (Isaiah 60:6). Sheba is modern-day Ethiopia.

In Sodom, Jesus judged. Yes, the Lord was pre-incarnate Jesus all the time (John 1)! At the virgin birth, Jesus was the Gift of grace. Grace is part of the "mystery of God", and the Mystery was revealed to mankind on that great day! Faith by works was transformed on that day into works by faith. The Abrahamic Covenant was transformed. The Light finally was shown to everyone, and that the Covenant was always by the blood of Jesus, not that of animals which man performed!

You can see, Christmas is not about you, but for you! It is not your Christmas but Jesus's Day! We should quit thinking about pleasure, receiving, and buying. It is Jesus who is the reason for the season. Your part is that your Gift was born that day, but most of you have never taken your Gift out of the box, let alone use Him by having faith in Jesus.

People say because of three wise men bearing three gifts, shows that we are to give. That is a noble thought but not the idea. Using sacred literature, if it is true; golden rods, frankincense, and myrrh were given to Adam and Eve to comfort them. They were stored in the Cave of Treasures somewhere in the East. (1 Adam and Eve). It appears that those treasures already and always belonged to God. Wise men were merely returning them to their rightful owner!

1 Bk of Adam & Eve 31:1 AFTER these things God said unto Adam, "Thou didst ask of Me something from the garden, to be comforted therewith, and I have given thee these three tokens as a consolation to thee; that thou trust in Me and in My covenant with thee. 2 "For I will come and save thee; and kings shall bring me when in the flesh, gold, incense and myrrh; gold as a token of My kingdom; incense as a token of My divinity; and myrrh as a token of My suffering and of My death.

These sacred writings came from guess where: Sheba - modern-day Ethiopia. Who would know better than the people where the gifts were stored, than Ethiopia itself? Those passages don't say "three kings" but merely "kings". One King was already planned to be there. The Abrahamic Covenant was a reminder of the Adamic Covenant. It was sealed with grace. God provided Comfort with the symbols of the Savior. The gifts God loaned to Adam was to be saved for posterity:

1 Bk of Adam and Eve 31:3 "But, O Adam, put these by thee in the cave; the gold that it may shed light over thee by night; the incense, that thou smell its sweet savour; and the myrrh, to comfort thee in thy sorrow."

The three treasures were to be stored until a day 5500 years later when the Adamic Covenant would be fulfilled. That was the time when Adam and Eve would have the One in whom they believed!  By their faith in a future event, our ancestors were saved at Jesus's death just as we are. He looked toward the Promise. We look back at the Promise.  What are the symbols of the three gifts: Light (the Kingdom), Incense (His Divinity), and Myrrh (Christ's suffering and death).

Iphones, toys, and earrings do a disservice to His Kingship, Divinity, and Suffering. Giving to one another is weak at most! Christmas Day is when we return to Jesus what belongs to him: servitude to the King, reverence for His Divinity, and respecting his suffering and death. We take what He gave us - our life, and make it  living sacrifice to Jesus (Rom 12:1).

We who claim to be Christians know what those gifts mean! Now, we know the whole story, if the writer had divine insight. I believe he either was a good prophet, if this was written in 300 BC, or a discerning Christian if written in 400 AD.

We do know one thing: the gifts of the wise men were for Jesus's Day, not ours. Perhaps Christians can be well advised to spend the day in service to the Lord.

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If I Was God

God has foreknowledge. He knew that mankind would disrespect Him and disobey. He knew that most people would not love Him. He Created us anyway! That is agape - divine love. If I was God, I wouldn't have done that! Rebellious people make me angry. God wanted our companionship anyway.

If I was God, I would not have made the heavens and the earth. The existence of people would just pollute it; not from their abuse but by their mere existence. Most people aren't any better than the soil from which they came, which by the way, at its best is decayed life.  I would never create something, then have my Creation deny I did it. That is the utmost disrespect. I wouldn't have Created humans who thought they were so smart that they credit the Unknown God of Chance for something I did! I wouldn't have created low-life people who believe their own reason is better than God's wisdom.

If I was God, I wouldn't look upon mankind's ugliness. I would hide my face from them in shame. If I was God, I would not allow those disrespectful people to even look upon me. That would disgust me so much that I would have no mercy on them. Why would I? They would have no respect for me. I would cover their genitals with a painful iron belt rather than killing and animal to cover their shame.

If I was God, I would have created man as stupid as his actions. I would point out to them how big  of fools they are. I would shake the dust from my feet, and find someone else to love. Even prostitutes and brawlers would seem more wise than those who fail to listen. It would be better for me as God to be with drunkards than with those who love themselves more than Me!

If I was God, I would mark sinners who fail to repent with a number. I would use Satan as my workman. He would mark with a hot iron all those who he saw worthy of his number, and unworthy of Mine - if I was God.

If I was God, I would cringe when men lusted after men, and women after women. That would disgust me. I would vomit the church from my guts if they tolerated that sin.

If I was God, and heard preachers testify against my Word, I would burn them up with their true father the Devil.

If I was God, my patience would run out. I would give them one chance to repent. I would be an unmerciful God, but He gives seven times seventy chances, and most people still never humble themselves.

If I was God, I would never love those who don't love me. He's better than me. He has the ultimate love - loving all of us ho deserve death.

If I was God, I would humble people. I would slap them hard in the face, and demand servitude;  whereas, God just leads those who will follow. He never slaps around his children to forcibly get their love.

If I was God, I would delight in punishing my prodigal children. I would beat them with a cat-o-nine-tails until they did right. However, God welcomes them home. I would be a tyrant God. You need to thank God that I am not God!

If I was God, I would despise those who serve themselves. I wouldn't get jealous; I'd get even!

If I was God, I would hate liars, thieves, murderers, coveters, and disrespectful persons. I would call them haters, and hate them back. If I was God, I would force people to work on My Day - the Lord's Day - because they deserve to sweat all the time of their lives.

If I was God, I would be insulted at what my children do on my Birthday. I would be offended that I don't get my gift: honor of my Kingship, life, and death. Those who show disrespect by asking for things for their own selfish god would be chastised. Those who hate the word "Christmas", I would change the name for them - from Christmas to "Christ's Day" since it's not your mass but My Day.

I would rebuke deniers of Hell, and take them there to show it to them. I would let them know that only a few would be rewarded. I would laugh at their pride as they say, "I deserve heaven. Everyone will go there!" I would wonder why I made such stupid people. I would wonder why they prefer lies to truth. I would wonder why my own Creation would choose one minute of fun over an eternity of happiness. I would wonder why I designed smart people, but they were fooled into becoming so stupid.

I would wonder why I tolerate sin. I could just incinerate people as they commit their first. That would save me time and grief, but God is much more kind than I would be!

If I was God, I would laugh knowing that the wicked would be punished. God weeps. Be thankful that I am not God!

If I was God, I'd let Satan do the judging on that great and terrible day. He knows his children well. I wouldn't be so certain of his fairness; but the real God judges fairly and generously!

If I was God, I wouldn't show mercy, but the True God is merciful.

If I was God, I certainly wouldn't allow my own Son to die for ungrateful people. God did just that!

If I was God, I would prefer living in paradise without sinners. But God wants than none should perish, and that all live eternally with Him!

You should be thankful that I am not God. I would be a tyrannical God because that is my inborn nature. Not so with God - his "nature" is unnatural; it is "supernatural". He is loving, kind, patient, graceful, and merciful. My nature is the opposite of His but he loves me anyhow. My flesh wants to kill those who despise God. However, my Spirit wants them to all have eternal life. That difference between my will and my actions is God's will. I am not the tyrant that Satan trained, but an imperfect soldier of the Cross. I didn't cause me to change; only God can, and He did!

You should be happy that I am a new person. If God had not changed me, I would have been the hateful person who would have crucified all of you. Why not? You deserve to die. You can't even keep one commandment. You are pitiful, and so am I. The first step in becoming a new person is realizing that you deserve death. The gift of God is eternal life. I and those like me would give you death. Be glad that I am not God!

The Big Lie

The biggest lie ever is "I'm too bad to be born-again!"

When I was a youth that's what I thought. How did that thought get into my mind? From the realm of darkness. For you whose neurons cannot make the synapse jump, that means that demons planted thoughts in my mind. Who else would it be?

I am educated, and being somewhat of a "scientist", how can I rationally believe that there is a supernatural realm that I can neither see nor hear? Actually, it's by the same token that others believe there is not! That premise has never been proven nor disproven. My thought is that it is more rational to believe that existence is deeper than my senses can take me!

Let's say that I'm deaf. I cannot hear what is spoken by others, not because the reverberations are not there, but because I do not have a receiver. Likewise, with the supernatural world because a person has no faculty to perceive it, does not mean it does not exist. Surprise - I have that faculty!

"Faculties" are the powers of the mind. "Sensations" are one of the many faculties. The obvious five are: vision, audition, offaction, gustation, and somatosensation. Don't let those scare you but most of us have those five! Because we can detect things beyond those five, scientists have identified several more: pain, balance, temperature, etc. The possible list is endless, and remains to be discovered.

As an example, before Columbus, except for the divinely inspired, everyone sensed that the earth was flat because that was their perception. If they had looked beyond their noses to the horizon, they could have detected the curvature. If they had looked up, they could have seen the rotation of the moon around the world. God inspired some to know that thousands of years before science accepted it. Columbus knew that because God "told" him the earth was round:

Isaiah 40:22 (ESV) It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in...

Although few sensed it, the world was always spherical (a revolution of circles). With divine inspiration, maybe just discernment, Columbus knew that the earth was round. He overcome "the big lie". At one time, that was even religious heresy!

Likewise, because we cannot see the spiritual world, does not mean that there is no supernatural. Indeed, the natural proves the supernatural:

Romans 1:20  (ESV)  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a] in the things that have been made.

We can know God by His Creation! We can't see Him, but except for the foolish, the Creation is proof that God does exist! In fact, if people deny His Creation, they even deny the existence of God. Most people fail to perceive that. They have the faculties to perceive God's existence but don't know that they have it (Ezekiel 12:2).

The soul is the spiritual faculty of the human being. It is how we sense God, and also how we sense Satan. Both God and Satan are supernatural because the natural senses know nothing of their existence. God calls everyone through their faculty of the soul. Satan, like the noises in the air, interferes with good spiritual reception. We can't see the interference, either on our TV sets, or in our souls.

Now back, to the big lie: "Deception" is the interference to our soul. Satan takes God's will but adds some lies. It is mostly truth which Satan filters to the soul but our reception is poor because of Satan's deception.

As a child, I perceived from nature that there must be a God. I had never read Romans 1:20 before but it proved true to me. As soon as I could wonder about the universe I realized that there Is a Creator! God called me to Him. My soul heard him:

John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Because God "draws", people must have a faculty which is drawn. That faculty is our soul. We can't prove that we have it but we can sense that we do!

Because I was young, Satan didn't bother with my reception. As a child I felt the calling, but didn't know what to do. As I grew in years, my Dad and the church filled me in: I must be born-again! Then my soul, usually getting "good" signals, since only God is good, began to get interference from the unseen world. That interference was, you're too bad to be born-again. 

Knowing the will of God, and his good signal, that seemed true. I knew that I was a sinner. That was a true signal from God. However, Satan emanated some static. You are too bad. That is the big lie!

The truth is that you are never too bad to be saved! You are too bad to do it on your own, because you were born bad. When the true signal gets through the static, in the form of Light by the way, you are born-again. That Light is: You are bad, really bad, but by grace God has chosen to save you through His Son, Jesus. Once you realize that indeed you are too bad to save yourself but Jesus can, then you are born-again. Satan's deception is so that you don't get that calling by making sure you have poor reception.

It is imperative to believe in the supernatural world. Satan cares little that you believe in him just so you don't believe in God. Most get Satan's message - there is no Creator God who has Almighty Power. Whether you admit or not, you are influenced by the supernatural world. Wise people acknowledge that they feel called in some fashion - by good or evil. Some can't detect either. They just turn off their spiritual faculty as if it is not even there. They are reprobate.

In fact, evil people who see the Light in spite of the spiritual static love God the most!

Luke 7:47 (ESV) (Jesus) - "Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

You are never too bad to be forgiven. That is "the big lie".  In fact, when you seek forgiveness and receive pardon, you will love God more than those forgiven little. Paul was a chief sinner. He claimed that dishonor. However, when he was pardoned, he loved God even more than most! Never listen to the static that your soul receives - hear the truth and filter out the static:

John 8:32 "...and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The soul is the receptor of truth, and deception is the interference to the reception. The truth is that you are not too bad to be born-again, and that truth comes from the supernatural world whether you believe it or not!

Tolerance and Intolerance

1 Corinthians 5:1 (ESV) It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 5 ...you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

In this age the church is guilty of tolerating sin. Sinners are welcome in the church but for one purpose - to avail themselves to the Word which leads to being born-again. From the passages above, it is clear that Christians are not to fellowship with blatant sinners that obviously are not influenced by Jesus's sacrificial death on the cross.

Actually, there are many points to be made by Paul in these passages. I skipped over verses three and four, not because they are not important, but to narrow the scope of this commentary. Let's look at some of the points:

• "It is reported":  Christians, in those days, were held accountable for the spiritual condition of others. Because sinful behavior reflects on the entire Body of Believers, sinful behavior is everybody's business. Just think of the reputation of Christianity if the Church had allowed to be a den of sinners! They were not hypocrites as many churches are today. They were not tolerant of sin as many other churches are today. The Church at Corinth was beginning to be lukewarm as was the church at Laodocia. Paul endeavored to stop that in its tracks!
• "That there is sexual immorality": This is clear. There is right and wrong. One man and one woman in Holy Matrimony was God's Design. Fornication is only one sexual sin, and it is serious business, yet the churches are filled in modern times with fornicators who either can't control their passion or feel no remorse. Sexual sins are the most prevalent, it seems, in the Body of Believers. In modern times, our culture and media is driven by sexual passion. More people watch pornography than read the Bible. Sexual immorality is being your own god and focusing on pleasuring oneself. It is elevating oneself over God.
• "Pagans": Paul compares the sinners as worse than the pagans. Pagans are those who are of any other belief other than Judeo-Christianity. Some of them sacrificed their babies to Molech and even had male temple prostitutes, implying homosexuality within the place of their worship. Pagans by definition are unrighteous, and Paul was pointing a direct finger at the unrighteous in the Corinthian Church. Scripture clearly tells God's people not to do the things pagans do, but this is even worse! Let's look at what the pagans were noted for and what God commanded:

Deuteronomy 18:9 (ESV) “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

 God pointed out the vile sins of the pagans, but at least they were not (at the time of Paul) into incest in their religious practices. (Albeit, Cleopatra was eighty-some years before Paul in Egypt.) 

• "A man has his father's wife": Incest is a greater sin than even the things the pagans do. There are degrees of sin, and incest is one of the greatest. Note that biblical incest is not necessarily of the same blood, but is familial. We are to revere the institution of marriage, and especially respect our parents. Not "honoring father and mother" is a violation of the Fifth Commandment . On top of that is the violation of Seventh - adultery (a form of fornication), and the Tenth - coveting what belongs to another. Incest is a triple sin against the father, and a Ten-fold sin against our Father in heaven. And I almost forgot theft. The son stole his father's wife (the Eighth.)
• "And you are arrogant": This accusation wasn't directed at the two who sinned,  but the church itself! Arrogance is a special kind of pride. It is flaunting self-importance. You see, the church allowed sin in the church; God forbade it. The church placed themselves above God. They allowed abominations in the church. In times past the Baptist Church in America would dismiss sinners who refused to repent, and return to good standing. Some would not, and the church considered them reprobate. Nowadays, the church allows about any abomination in the church and take no measures to stop the behavior or dismiss the rebellious. For instance, Catholics allow politicians who support abortion and homosexuality to remain in good standing. That is a reflection on the church. When the church allows pagan living on Holy Ground, they are arrogant!
• "Mourn": Not only is the church not to tolerate its members living in sin, but is to mourn for them. As God weeps for sinners, Christians are to as well. "Toughlove" is tough! It is hard to turn out a family member, and a brother in Christ is no easier.  However, there must be discipline in the church or in indeed will evolve into a den of sinners.
• "Remove from you": Sin within the Church is not to be tolerated! Mourning for the sinner is showing love, but Christians are to hate the sin enough to not tolerate it! One man told me that it is not in the Bible to hate the sin but love the sinner. The entire theme of Holy Scripture is focused on that! How can one who claims to be a Christian fail to see the main point of the gospel? In modern culture and the church, the "correct" thing to do is to tolerate sin. Paul made it clear that the toleration of sin damns the person Christians claim to love! There is a process for dismissal. (See Matthew 18:15-17). Once one is removed for failure to repent, Christians are not even to eat with them.

1 Corinthians 5:11 (ESV) But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

This is called shunning.  Those who fail to comply with God's Will are to be avoided. The grievous sins for shunning are enumerated: sexual immorality, usury, hatefulness, drunkiness, or a cheater. To be honest, I know of some even in the church who hate others. We are no better today, if not worse than in apostolic times.

• "Deliver this man to Satan":  Essentially, this means to shake the dust off your feet. The man is nearly reprobate. Psychologists call reprobation "psychopathic" in that those people feel no remorse. I call the reprobate "spiritually psychopathic". If they are into denial, the demons inside fend off the Holy Spirit in producing guilt. Such a horrid sin as this is not blasphemy but abominable. He can be changed! Christians are to deliver him to Satan because to Satan is to whom he belongs. The church body is to convict the man. It is their responsibility. If he won't deal with God, they are to deal with him!
• "For the destruction of the flesh": This is not meant to be eternal destruction but letting the world destroy him. It is allowing him to have the consequences of his sinfulness. "Delivering him to Satan" is allowing Satan free reign. God lowers the safety hedge from around him. Satan can teach us a lesson. It's not for his purposes but for God's. God was proud of the faithfulness of Job, and allowed Satan to test it. In this case, God is ashamed of the man, and knows he will tire of Satan's testing. I've been there. I readily tired of Satan! If Christians are not feeling remorseful for sin, their soul is in grievous danger. Guilt can be a great spiritual medicine!
• So that his spirit may be saved": Toughlove is hard to do! Good parents let their children fall because in their calamity they are humbled. God does the same! God struck Paul blind because he murdered. That humbled Paul and he quit "kicking against the pricks" as Jesus mentioned. That is self-injury to avoid doing what's right. The one to whom God forgives the most, loves him the most (Luke 7:47). There is the potential for this man to love God extremely after he tires of Satan and becomes remorseful. True love is toughlove. Rather than tolerate sin, we are to deal with it. The flesh - pleasuring the self - is to be sacrificed on the cross to save the spirit (Romans 12:1).
• "So that his spirit may be saved": Although grievous, even incest is still pardonable. It is not blasphemy unless the sinner denies God. It is God's will that "whosoever" be saved. That's this man too! Right now, he is not "saved". In fact, he is unsafe. God adjusted his protection for this man because he dropped his sword - the word - and misplaced his faith, the major part of God's armor! Unless he repents, he belongs to Satan, and God desires that "none should perish" (John 3:16). 
• "In the day of the Lord": Paul is clear here. Salvation comes the on Day of the Lord. That's judgment day. Until then, dead sinners "vacation" in Paradise, but when God says, "Well done good and faithful servant," the Christian is judged innocent and saved. For the righteous that will be a great day; not so for the unrighteous:

Joel 2:31 (KJV) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

That's the day when this troublesome flesh is destroyed by fire! For some it will be quite a terrible day, or actually eternity! 

True love is saving one from eternal damnation. By tolerating this man's sin would have been a ticket to hell. By dismissing him from the Family of God is an act of divine love. By not tolerating sin is the way Christians demonstrate love. Of course, to condemn sin, Christians must be without sin. We must remain vigilant that we keep our repentance up-to-date!

It's a shame: I've been chastised by Christians because I refuse to tolerate homosexuality. Because the homosexual is the brother to the Christian lady, all of a sudden homosexuality was no longer sinful! This is bad thinking, and is arrogance in the face of God! If she truly loves her brother, she would use toughlove with him as Paul admonished the Church to do. God's will never changes. Society's does. We are to do God's will without regard to cultural norms. The world is of the flesh, and to join the world is to deny God.

Paul rebuked both the sinner and the arrogance of the Christians. This is a lesson for the liberal churches who preach tolerance and the social gospel. If the Corinthian church had allowed this unrepentant sinner to remain part of the church body, Paul would have called for their dismissal from the true Church! Apparently, they obeyed Paul's instruction because St. John didn't condemn them in the Book of Revelation! 

This is a lesson on not tolerating sin, and the mercy of God for even grievous sinners. His justice is toughlove because he even desires the incestuous to not perish.

Good People and False Doctrine

Even the most righteous people can preach false doctrine. Remember that the angel of Light - Lucifer spoke mostly truth. The difference between truth and lies are either ignorance or deception.

Good people can deceive. Most haven't that intention, but it is the outcome of their own deception. Of course, scripture says only One is "good" - that is God. We must beware of anyone else. When even a preacher says things, question it. That's okay! When I write something, test it. I will be impressed, not upset. 

1 Thessalonians 5:21 But test everything; hold fast what is good. 

 Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 Different viewpoints are why we have denominations. I believe that there are righteous people in all denominations. Those groups who deny the essential doctrines of the bible are cults. They are heretical. This commentary is to address, not the cults, but denominations of Christian doctrine.

Like money, belief comes in different denominations. Most denominations have something as their highest currency. For all Baptists, their thousand-dollar bill is baptism by immersion. For Southern Baptists, their hundred-dollar bill is eternal security stemming from the essential doctrine sola gratia (by grace alone). For Pentecostals, their one-hundred dollar bill is speaking in tongues. For Presbyterians, it is divine election, also a belief from sola gratia.

For Nazarenes, their one-hundred dollar bill is sanctification by a second work of grace. For Free Will and General Baptists it is conditional security. For Quakers, it is peace, meekness and charity. I hope by now, you see what the higher denominations are for each set of doctrines.

Each doctrinal system also has their dollar bills. For Churches of Christ, it is no instruments in worship. For Christian Churches it is weekly taking of the elements. All these ideas are the values of Christian denominations. 

Each also has their fake money - what kids call play money. The social gospel is the counterfeit one-thousand dollar bill for liberal churches. Liberation theology is the stack of fake thousand-dollar bills. Tolerance of sin in the church is the bouncing million-dollar check! Those who allow unrepentant and unreformed sinners equal status as those born-again are WOW - the worst of the worst. Their faith is pretty much all counterfeit because their faith is not strong enough to practice!

All of these denominations - faiths have good things in their doctrine. Some have evil things. Most have wrong things!

Divorce as the unpardonable sin is what's wrong with my own denomination. Actually, they teach that is forgivable but not forgettable since divorced men can't be stewards of God. However, most of what we believe is good.

Southern Baptists oftentimes consider General Baptists schismatic because of the belief in falling away. One denomination is wrong, and the other is right. Both of us should humble ourselves - we just may be wrong! I submit that my belief may be wrong but I cling to it because of scripture. Most Southern, Missionary, American, Landmark, and Independent Baptists cling to the belief that it is impossible for them to be wrong;  thus they shun others who believe otherwise. I can't live with that dogmatism while at the same time have a degree of dogmatism myself!

I cringe when preachers say silly things! The one I hate worse is that God loves us without expecting anything in return. That is a very Calvinistic influenced belief, and in my view, is heresy! All scripture is very clear - God expects our love in return, and how we manifest love for God is through obedience. That contradicts "by grace alone" in their viewpoint, but the difference is the willingness to voluntarily obey. In other words, a person is not self-righteous by trying to obey God, but many Calvinists see it that way. That voluntary obedience is what Paul called "liberty in Christ": Christians are free to sin but because they love and revere God, they endeavor to be sin-free.

What I believe is from scripture. Truth is not hereditary nor induced. It is perceived from God's Word. Most of what people believe is from their background. Baptists believe Baptist doctrine because that's all they know. Roman Catholics accept the Pope's bull because that's all they know.

The responsibility of the Christian is to seek truth without regard to what their preacher or denomination say or believes. Catholics, historically, avoided that by using Latin in their services, and printing bibles in Latin. That was so that priests could tell people what to believe, and they accepted it unquestionably; except for Martin Luther.

John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Truth doesn't come from the preacher nor the denomination. It comes from the Word; Jesus said that! In other words, the truth is what Jesus taught, mentored, and said. Because, as scripture says, scripture was divinely inspired, we accept what the apostles wrote as truthful. Not their version of their truth, or their own doctrine, but the gospel truth!

"Good" people understand God's word differently for different reasons. As such dogmatic people entrap God in their little box and denominations endeavor to keep Him there.

Of course, there is a reasonable "box" which are creeds: the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed best conform to scripture, and most orthodox Christians concur. Those creeds are essential beliefs.  Beyond those, Christians have some levity. As others may be wrong, the meek person will submit -  maybe there is a possibility that I am wrong!

I realize that God will work outside my box. He is Almighty. He showed Simon Magus that there was no secret ritual for being filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 8). That event should have taught Christians to quit trying to contain God in our own box. It didn't. God, for most people, live in the tiny little box in which we think we have Him contained.

As for Calvinism vs. Arminianism, I have let God out of their box and mine! God is free to elect anyone such as he did for Paul, or allow others to freely choose Him, as he does in the general case.

All of us who spout truth, spout only partial truth. It's truth as we understand it, and most people don't understand very well because they lack study of the word.

Falsehoods can be intentional deception or sincerely believed. Remember those atheists whose belief is stronger that there is no God than yours may be that there is a God! They are sincerely wrong and standup for it. That is highly principled. Do you have like Christian principle?

Some notable person said, "I heard a new version of the truth and did all I could to further it." There is only one truth! Other contentions are falsehoods. Test scripture, and don't rely on mankind. The "joke" will be on you, if you believe the lie!