Forgive But Not Forget: How Unchristlike!

Often people post "I'll forgive, but I'll never forget!" on Facebook. That's like taking credit for forgiving when the person didn't really forgive! As Paul would say, "That's very hypocritical of you." You see, it puts on a façade of grace when no grace is shown.

Let's see how God does things because we are to righteous like him. WWJD (What would Jesus do?)

1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Providing people confess their sins to God, he forgives those people. His  forgiveness is dependent on only one thing: contrition on the part of the wrong-doer. Hence, if we are to be like God, then we shall forgive other people with only one condition: that they are sorry.

Then God cleanses the wrongdoer from all unrighteousness. How does he do that? It's by his grace: 

Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."

After God forgives, he no longer remembers the person's transgression! If it truly is forgiveness, the transgression is of no significance any longer because it's covered by grace! Imagine if God never forgot your sin. All the time he kept saying in his divine mind: "You wronged me, I'll never forget it!" How forgiven would you be? Not at all. He chooses to forget and it's out of love that he has the grace to do that. If that's God's way, it too must be the way of everyone.

Forgiving is forgetting!

God thoroughly forgets. He blots the wrong completely out. God keeps two spiritual books in which his divine hand writes. Of course he writes simply by willing it to be!

Revelation 20:12 "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

The Book of Life is where the names of all those who are forgiven is written. When babies are born their name is written in the Book of Life because they are innocent. With the first sin, only one which all men shall do, their name is moved over to the "other book". Let's call that the Sinner's Log. My name was there and so was yours. Yours may still be if you have not been born again.

When we are born again, all our PAST sins are forgiven, although all are covered by the blood (Romans 3:25). When we are born again, just as at our first birth, our names are written in the Book of Life and anything written in the Sinner's Log Book is blotted out! As God forgets that sin because it no longer has significance, with his divine pen, the blood covers those forgiven sins because Jesus died for them all!

1 John 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

It's important to know that Jesus' blood covers all our sins: past, present and future, but when we're born again, it's because we have confessed to only past sins. Therefore, constant confession is expected so that God can promptly forgive us. In other words, we can't keep doing wrong without remorse and still be new persons!

How often should we forgive?

Matthew 18:20 "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

In effect Jesus is saying that as long as a person wrongs another person they should always forgive as long as their is repentance (Luke 17:4).

Not only SHOULD you forgive, but it is COMMANDED, if it is your expectation to be forgiven yourself when your time comes!

Matthew 6:15 "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

You forgive others... God will forgive you. If you don't forgive others, God will not forgive you!

But you say, "He really wronged me badly!" Forgiving friends should be easy, but Christians are even expected to forgive their enemies. How so? We are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Jesus in his wisdom left no loopholes so we are without excuse!

Forgiving is loving!

Now, searching for another loophole the viper may say, "Well, I'll forgive him and forget about it, but I shall never be a friend again!"

What is a friend? A friend is a person to whom another has feelings of affection. Surely, the affection is not disdain, disgust, fear, dislike or even to be left alone. The affection one has for a friend is one of love!  Friendship, if it's true is a lifelong relationship because friends always truly forgive.

True friendship is forgiving and loving unconditionally. What if Jesus forgave your sins, forgot them, but discontinued a loving relationship. That would not be very gracious of him and he would be in violation of his own laws. God can't do that! Then why do people have more authority than God? Indeed friends are to serve friends. In practice true friendship can never end, because a Christian's obligation is to reconcile with the offending one, and even if the Christian is the one who offended!

Matthew 5:24 "Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."

Before we can even commune with God we must first be reconciled with our brother or sister. That's even if you are not the one with hard feelings, but him (Matthew 5:23;  "if thy brother hath ought against thee")

As such, there are four steps to forgiveness:

1. The offender is truly sorry and desires reconciliation.
2. The offended forgives.
3. The offended blots the offense from memory.
4. The friendship is restored to it's original condition.
5. Each one loves the other just as the offense never happened!

This is God's will! There are repercussions if Christians don't do God's will. Many people hang onto ill-will for years and even delight in their hatred. Sure, they may call it by another name, but hatred has no name. It's lack of love!

Cordiality is not friendship. Cordiality is not love. Cordiality is concealed hatred. Never even waste time being cordial because it's a façade that God sees through.  Where in scripture is it said to be cordial to those who wrong you? Cordiality is an act of civility. Sure society should be civil, but Christians must be friends!

Churches split because of discord. Discord is a result of failing to truly forgive. Imagine a church where all merely act as friends,  but each member holds something over another person's head. With discord the Holy Ghost will not come because the ground is not holy! What I mean by this is that people whose temple is filled with malice have no Holy Spirit residing in them. God cannot coexist with evil, and resentment is evil.

I have a problem with love. I admit that! I ask God to forgive me often because others don't please my expectations. But I am no matter. It's God that we all must please. My desire is that we all be of one accord because that's when the Holy Ghost appears in his fullness. Those who fail to love in God's house shun him from his own dwelling place.

Lack of love is serving evil. Love is serving God. Love conquers all, and it's us who are to put away pride and resentment and to love one another!

Path of Least Resistance

Everything follows the path of least resistance in nature. Watch the rivers flow and they know their target. It's the prize at the end of the rainbow where a great body of this precious liquid attracts it to flow! Sometimes that path is over obstacles and sometimes around them, but never through them.

Likewise, current flows the path of least resistance.

Circuit

In the circuit drawing above, there is battery V, switch S and resistances R1 and R2.

When switch S is thrown, which branch will the most current flow if  R2 resistance is greater than R1? It should be obvious that the path of least resistance has the most current flow. R1 is less resistance so current passes through it more easily.

Even the water flowing follows the same principle. If V=water level of potential energy, most of the water will flow through the wide passage R1 because it has less resistance than the narrow passage R2 (noting that narrow offers more resistance than wide).

In scripture, the narrow path offers more resistance than the wide path. It's easier for people to flow or travel the wider path because it accommodates more.

Matthew 7:13 "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

In these passages the people are V. They all have the opportunity to reach their potential. That potential is winning the prize of salvation.

R1 in this case is the wide way. The path is wide and offers little resistance. Gold is the path of this way. Gold, being conductive offers little resistance. Let R1 equal riches, prestige, pleasure and pride. These characteristics are of the world and what the people crave. They take this path because it's easy and the rewards are readily obtainable without interference (resistance).

R2 in this case is the narrow way. It offers much resistance because temptation lies on that path. It's the Christians who walk this path, but they can see R1. They see the wealth, prestige and pleasure there, and desire it, but if they look at the prize, passing through the resistance, their reward is eternal. When R1 is burned out, they, much like the Energizer Bunny keeps on going and going... forever!

The prize of course is eternal life. Those on R1 get rewards too. They get the riches, pleasure, etc. immediately, because the resistance is less. Because of all that flow, that path becomes worn out and shorts out creating a disconnect. The prize cannot then be reached by that path!

If there was a light on that circuit, let it be "E', then with R1 burn out R2, the narrow path is the way to the Light. That is where God lives and where the fewest people go because other path offered the least resistance. However, resistance R1 can never light the light, thus in this case, violates physical law because God is supernatural!

The path on which R1 lies is plain old copper. It has little value.it passes current less than gold.  However, the lamp it Lights so well is Shekinah... the glory of God.

V=I x R, in electrical terms is voltage of the battery, equals the current flow times the resistance. With constant voltage then it's obvious that more current flows with less resistance.

In spiritual terms it's P=C x T, where P=people, C=Christians and T=temptation

If the population is the same, and temptations increase, fewer Christians travel the path.

Satan's desire that this circuit implode before his does. He bets on the gamble that because his path is easy, more will take it, and for those who take the more narrow path, he offers more resistance hoping to open the circuit to the prize by shorting it out.

Yes, even people are like water flowing. They are follow the current just as electricity does too. Only by taking the narrow path can the prize be won!

Opinion on Satan

Today's thought is part commentary and part opinion, but it is worth considering.

Satan is not God! Satan is not even a false god! Gods are all-powerful and all-knowing. Satan only knows what God revealed to him before his rebellion, and his power is limited to what God allows of him. Temptation is OF Satan, but it is not BY Satan.  Satan is limited by time and distance as to where he can be. There is no biblical evidence that an angel can be more than one place at a time, therefore, Satan must go to and fro!

How fast can Satan travel. We don't know, but time was created for mortal beings. In the spiritual world, travel is likely to not be time dependent. Allowing that, Satan can be all over the place at will, but it's limited to one place at a time. His self-assigned vocation is undermining God's authority. He's clever, that we know. With that thought, Satan is smart enough to be where the impact is greatest. We know that he was with Job because Job had great faith, was rich and powerful. If he made Job fall, many would go with him.

We're not Job! Satan is there with those more influential. My guess is that he torments our government and religious leaders first hand. I believe that he spends much time with the Pope and with the Reverend Barry Lynn, the director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State which endeavors to take Christ out of American public life.

Also, major protestant modernistic leaders must be strongly influence by Satan's deceptions.

My first point is this: You and I get little personal time with Satan so why say that we do?

By propagating the notion that Satan tempts me to sin is granting Satan power and influence that he doesn't have! Sure, if I became a major threat to his deception, I would surely get a personal visit, but I'm sure, because of my lack of prestige, that only one of his dark angels occasionally visits me. Most of the time, I make my own decisions because I have free will. The devil nor his helpers can never MAKE me do anything. Why waste their time when I sin of my own volition.

Original sin was when inherited sin entered mankind. It's in our genetics to sin. Scripture says that all have sinned and miss the mark. We all sin because God warned Adam "You shall surely die!" On that day all the seed of Adam to ever live will die a first death and a spiritual second eternal death unless we are spared by grace. 

Since Satan now rules the world, the first time that we sin, we become subjects of Satan and his sons and daughters. When we are born again, we're adopted by God and enter into the kingdom of God! Before that, we're subject to the law of sin. That's the law of Satan: We all will sin by rebelling against God's Laws. The difference between the two laws are noted:

Romans 7:22 "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."

 The Law of God is for the inward man, the spiritual part of our make-up. The law of sin is in our members. As such, our flesh does what provides pleasure whereas our soul desires peace. The result is that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). The Law of God is doing God's will; the Law of Sin is doing your own will.

This passage describes the Law of Sin:

Deuteronomy 12:8 "Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes."

Hence, we don't follow Satan because he tempts us. Satan took what God made and made it lustful in our own eyes. In other words God created everything, but Satan coated it with evil. God created a pure world; Satan contaminated it. After it was wrought with evil by men's own lusts, God destroyed the old dirty world and gave mankind a second chance because of his grace. Immediately, Ham came into Noah's presence and contaminated it again. I blame it on the wine which Noah drank. Thereafter, the world again belonged to Satan, but mankind is who made it dirty again!

My second point is this: Satan didn't create a sinful world, we did!

We did it by doing the will of Satan and by following the Law of Sin. That Law is "doing what is right in our own eyes." Satan is not our God: we each are our own god!

Do you doubt me? Let's look at the Law of Sin from the perspective of Satanists:

 The law of Thelema is "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will."  Thelema is the New Age chief philosopher Alesister Crowley's created religion which describes to a tee what one would expect: the WHOLE Law is "Do what thou wilt". This corresponds to scripture where it says that each do "what is right in their own eyes."

Anton LeVey wrote the Satanic Bible. That religion is a rewriting of Thelema. It's doctrine too is "Do what thou wilt!" That's their doctrine and as such is the law of Sin!

My third point is: When people do as they will, or what's right in their own eyes, it is they who create the world which tempts the flesh. Satan didn't create it; mankind did! Yet we credit Satan for doing what our kind did.

Mankind follows the course of least resistance. It is their own creation that they follow. Man desires a world of pleasure, as man is the creator of a polluted world, remembering that Satan is not all-mighty.

There are two paths, one of which all men must eventually choose: 1) the wide path to destruction or 2) the narrow path to eternal life. You laid the pavement to the first path and God laid the pavement to the latter path. The destructive path is laid with pleasure: it's the path the flesh desires to walk. The second path is paved with love; it's the path the spirit is willing to walk, but along this path, temptation attempts to roadblock the path. Hence, the narrow path offers resistance to travel. Only a few take this straight path and the path is narrow. Many will fall off. There is a prize at the end, but one must persevere when the self stops to enjoy pleasure.

The road most taken is the wide path. It's width is of great breadth to allow many to take it, and most do. The gate too  is wide, but the path leads to destruction. Anyone can stop anywhere and take pleasure into the flesh, but each stop is narcotic in that one pleasure requires even more! The prize at the end of this path is death, but the walkers thereon only live for the pleasure for the moment. They built this world and they keep looking back to the pleasures they created for themselves. Satan doesn't participate. He stands back and smiles.

My fourth point is: The sinner already belongs to Satan. He allows you to enjoy your own creation.

Why would Satan waste time on his defected offspring. He desires those who are adopted by God because he is a pretender to God's throne. He needs more subjects to feign power and undermine God.

My fifth point: Satan will send a principality to war with Christians walking the narrow path.

They are his barbs and his weapon are pleasures which we ourselves created!  He knows what we like and his angels remind us of it. Actually, Satan stands there and watches as we look back on our pleasures and do that in remembrance of ourselves. We were supposed to be the living sacrifice to God, but each of our selves still want appeasement!

My sixth point is: We can abandon God and worship our self, as creator of our own pleasures.

Yes, we are creators. We designed a world full of all types of pleasure: sexual, power, prestige, riches etc. Satan didn't create any of those things. God did! We took what God provided and made them dirty and we obtain pleasure from our creation.  It's us who get the credit for evil. Satan only made the model for our design. We designed a world which our flesh enjoys, thus destroying the right world of God's will.

My seventh point: It's never too late to sacrifice our own god to God. He is gracious to the last.

John 3:16 is the promise. God can do what we can't do!

My eight point: We have the power to create a world based on the Law of Sin, but we don't have the power to save ourselves.

That ability is based on the Law of God: it's by grace that we are saved and the only way to salvation is by the blood of Jesus Christ. It's us that we must sacrifice. Satan frowns on that.

Is Your Faith Real

All my life I have heard preachers ask, "Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're saved?" That bothers me because at times I doubt, and I bet that I'm not the only Christian who does!

Romans 3:3 "For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?"

It says "faith of God", but yet it seems that I want to change this to "faith in God"! How can God have faith in himself? Because he is truth and there is not one iota of doubt. He is sure of his existence and authority. Our doubt, or unbelief, can never change reality. Hence, pure faith is God's own knowledge of himself. He doubts not! For the rest of us, there is always some degree of doubt. Why? Because anything short of pure faith is unbelief and those without absolute certainty have doubts.

Matthew 8:10 "When Jesus heard it (the faith of the centurion), he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel."

The centurion who had faith that Jesus could heal his servant of the palsy is the only example of great faith in the New Testament.  As such the centurion had little doubt! The doubt arises because his faith could never be as great as the faith of God... pure faith.

Romans 4:16 refers to "the faith of Abraham". His willingness to sacrifice his son because God asked him to, was an example of the greatest faith of which mankind is possible. As Abraham was about to make the sacrifice, there was little doubt of the reality of God in his mind. Has faith was measured by his obedience. He was demonstrating his real love to his real God!

John 14:21 "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

"By keeping his commandments" are how we show our love to God.  Keeping commandments is obedience. Therefore, failing to obey raises doubt.

Having little doubt is having much assurance that we are truly born-again:

Hebrews 10:22 "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

Hence, we are assured of salvation when it's not in our heart to do evil. Without evil inside, obedience is easier. Therefore, when we obey God, we are assured of our salvation, and there is little doubt that we "shall be saved".

Those who profess, "I am saved" and obey because they love God, have strong assurance of their salvation because they are less inclined to sin. The desire is not there because Jesus' blood sprinkled it out.

Paul uses the expression "hope of salvation". Hope is measured by how much faith Christians have, or conversely, how little doubt is within. However, even those of "little faith" still have the "hope of salvation", they just have more doubt and are less assured.

My own faith is not beyond a shadow of a doubt! Why? Because at times I'm not obedient. When I sin, I know that I don't deserve salvation. Scripture reminds me that it is by grace that I'm saved, but Satan's emissaries respond, "But you know that you're just a sinner and don't deserve reprieve."

Let's not give Satan any undue credit. It's not him who speaks; it's our own conscious. It's our nature to deceive ourselves because we are born with original sin. What greater sin is there than doubt God's existence? None. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is denial of Jesus (Matthew 12:31). Having not enough faith in God to obey him is doubting his existence. Inside we all are born with that doubt and we fear it. Atheists embrace the fear. They have no faith, but entire doubt, and live without hope. How they cope with doubt is unbelievable! In fact can it even be called doubt because they are of exceeding faith.

Atheists are so confident that there is no God, that they have no fear and hence make no attempt to obey. In actuality theirs is a hope for nothingness following death. In fact they gamble their eternal life that there is no heaven nor hell. Their faith in nothingness is as strong as the faith in God of Abraham! Their faith is great faith which approaches the faith of God in himself. They are as certain that God is NOT compared to God's knowledge that he IS!

I feel insecure at times because my faith is not beyond a shadow of a doubt when atheists have such strong faith that God does not exist. It's the flesh which makes me doubt because my spirit is willing  (Matthew 26:41). Inside I want there to be God, but knowing of my own impure heart because my desire is pleasure, doubt is sometimes a welcome as relief for my own disobedience. To be more precise, if I live in sin, then if there is no God, I can never be punished. Therefore, the flesh, or our desires, suggests to us that to avoid punishment, God is not real.

We only fool ourselves. God is real and there is salvation. Hope turns to action when death arrives at the doorstep.  When we play games with our destiny, our unbelief doesn't change things! (Romans 3:3 above). Because atheists do not have faith in God, it doesn't change the existence of God! Because we sometimes have doubts, it doesn't change God's existence.

Doubt is caused by living for ourselves rather than God. We in effect try to serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). We must either choose our own flesh or choose God to eliminate doubt. Fence straddling is the source of doubt. We all have one leg on the wrong side of the fence, but it's the side our hearts are on which is the master we serve.  Sure, we have doubts and our hand stretches out over the fence, but there is enough faith that out heart remains on the God side of the fence.

Rather than praying for salvation again, because we "shall be saved" only one time, we should pray that our faith be increased enough that our sacrifice to God is greater. The sacrifice we must continually make, to be assured of our salvation, is our flesh. We must be obedient to erase doubt, although because of original sin, some doubt will always be there.

We can never "believe beyond a shadow of doubt that we are saved" for we are not yet saved. However, we can have the strong hope of salvation if we obey God because that's how we show our love for him!

Those with strong hope of salvation have little doubt that they "shall be saved" and with that much assurance, indeed, they are secure in the belief that they are saved because they know that God is protecting them from destruction even before the catastrophe occurs!

Real faith is obedience. We have doubts because we are disobedient. "The Lord's Prayer" is that we do his will. That's obedience and if we obey, our assurance increases as doubt decreases. Obedience then is real faith. The attribute of a real Christian can be measured by obedience. If a Christian sins without remorse and never worships God, they are likely to doubt the existence of God because they know that he is a fearsome God. Doubt is an escape from punishment because doubt erases self-responsibility for sin.

If we love God, we ae to do his will, and that is our assurance of salvation, and doubt is smothered in hope! If there is any doubt within your heart right now, the thing to do is pray that you change; that the old person will die and the new person will reign with God. Then your living flesh will truly be sacrificed.

Paedobaptism and Credobaptism: Know the Difference

Infant baptism is paedobaptism and adult believer's baptistism is credobaptism. In the former the participant has no say in the matter and in the latter, the person makes a choice based on belief.

Among the reasons for paedobaptism is that the infant is believed to be possessed and an exorcism must be done.  There is no biblical evidence that early Christians ever practiced infant baptism. There is no doctrine which allows it. All baptisms in the Holy Bible were for believers. Baptism is not for unbelievers... never! Even those of restored faiths still require faith in Jesus Christ to be baptized, and baptism, for them, is the end of the born-again process, but that's not on the table right now for discussion.

One of the reasons for paedobaptism is that it's the New Testament parallel to Old Testament circumcision, and indeed, infants of eight days old were circumcised as part of the Abrahamic Covenant. The "cutting off of the flesh" sealed the deal with God!

However, it was faith which saved Abraham. Even New Testament scripture validates that. Circumcision of adults was for two reasons: 1) a pledge to obey God and 2) and obvious health benefit such that God could fulfill his promise to bless the seed of Abraham. (He couldn't populate the earth with his seed if they were all dying off, could he?)

On the other hand, infant circumcision was a pledge to bring the child up under the covenant. When a baby is dedicated in the church, in contrast to infant baptism, that fulfills the pledge likewise. The infants enjoy the same health benefits as the adults. Therefore, circumcision is not the equivalent of baptism and as such is not a copy. Each are discreet ordinances for each particular covenant time: the law vs. grace. In other words, circumcision is merely symbolic of baptism, but they are not the same. Therefore, assuming infants can be baptized because infants were circumcised as adding to scripture, which we are not to do!

Early Christians and catholics believed that infants, having original sin, are born with evil spirits in their souls. Again, that is not scriptural! We all are born with a propensity to sin, but are born with an empty soul. Only those who can consider their spiritual condition, those of the time of accountability, have anything in their souls at all! We all, even in childhood, do evil, but there an evil spirit is not within unless the person blasphemes the Holy Spirit. As such babies are not possessed and there is no need to exorcize them!

On the other hand, as more mature children begin to sin, the disease of sin accumulates in their soul and it must be washed clean. The blood of Jesus is what does the washing, and baptism with water testifies to that. Baptism seals the deal, so to speak.

Sin can be in the soul even though an evil spirit is not. However, before the Holy Ghost fills the soul, the blood must cleanse the sin within. God cannot look upon sin. Actually, Christians can never be filled with the Holy Spirit because sin still exists. A better interpretation is being imbued with the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual sponge gets cleansed with blood and God's spirit is soaked up, but because of our original condition, sin still takes a portion of the soul preventing it form being entirely saturated.

Entire Sanctification can be strived for, but never obtained. Our soul will always be tainted with some sin and when we think we're clean, we become proud. Our pride disputes what we claim!

Why write this? Because some who claim paedobaptism misunderstand. They were merely wet infants who their parents dedicated to God, but salvation is by faith and only those with faith can be scripturally baptized. In other words only believers; hence credobaptism.

Paedobaptism stands in the way of credobaptism. Misunderstanding surely won't damn the person, but baptism must be done correctly or it has no meaning. Even if one was baptized (sic) as an infant, believer's baptism can still be performed. Anabaptists are those who have been re-baptized. I have been myself.

We are to be baptized when we are convinced that Jesus is the only way to salvation, and allow him to lead our lives. Baptism is an expression of a willingness to change, and those who are born-again can change! In essence, change is the assurance of salvation because we can't serve two masters. We must choose! Baptism is choosing our master.

The Most Despicable Thing

Within the pages of the Holy Bible are tales of intrigue, theft, murder, debauchery, adultery, murder, sedition, lying and much more, but the most despicable thing in the Bible is holiness!

The faithful reader right now is thinking, "But that is the most desirable thing!" The faithful reader is correct, but the world is wrong!

Leviticus 19:2 "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy."

That is worth repeating:

1 Peter 1:16 "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

Paul thought what Moses wrote was worth repeating, validating that holiness is timeless, commanded by God and  a characteristic of one who professes Christianity.

What is holiness? "for I am holy" means to be as God is.

1 Corinthians 11:1 ( ESV) "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."

Galatians 3:27 ( ESV) "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

To "be holy" is to be as Christ is. One should then ask, "How is Christ?" He is first and most of all, loving. As such he is graceful, and he is good, as only God himself is good. "Goodness" in scripture is doing what is right in God's eyes, God's will, referred to as righteousness.

Why is holiness despicable? Because even Christians cringe at the idea that they must change even though at baptism they promise to do just that:

Ephesians 4:22 (ESV) "To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

Being Holy like God is the transformation made as the sinner is born-again. With baptism they symbolically testify to the transformation with the washing with water. The "new self", the one washed clean, is "created after the likeness of God" which is in  "true righteousness and holiness". With the hope of salvation and the washing in water, the Christian is to be "holy", or in the modern vernacular, a holy roller! Now, that is despicable to even most Christians, but we are called to be set apart:

1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light..."

The Christian "nation" is holy. Holy people are peculiar and as such are despicable by the norms and expectations of society. "Heaven forbid, if those born-again act like it!" even Christians express.

Peculiar is to be an oddball, and not like other people. We are to imitate Christ (Ephesians 5:1) and obey his commandments (John 14:15), which is to love God and others (Matthew 22:37, 39).  How we love God and others are the Ten Commandments. In essence, obedience to those commands is to sacrifice oneself (Romans 12:1) by making yourself "a living sacrifice". Self-sacrifice is to quit doing what you want to do and to start doing what God desires for you to do - and be! With that expectation, Christians are to be peculiar people. Yes, you're to be an oddball!

Oddballs aren't part of the crowd. They set themselves apart from the world. The world tempts the oddball through pleasures of the flesh; that's doing what you want to do rather than God's will. That living sacrifice and setting apart is sanctification.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Hillary is right to some degree: most people are "a basket of deplorables", that which I call despicables. It's because we are not oddballs, not because we are!


We are to be wholly set apart, not just part way. It's our whole spirit, soul and body which is to be without sin, and it's to be from becoming the new person onward to death. It is running the race and persevering until the end.

God does the sanctifying (1 Thessalonians 5:23).  He does so because that's what you are called to do, i.e, you must be willing to do God's will (John 17:19). Sanctification is living the truth (John 17:17). Sanctification is possible because Jesus' shed his blood (Hebrews 3:12), and it commences at baptism (Ephesians 5:26) as the Christian becomes a new person. When the Christian is sanctified the person becomes an oddity, a peculiar person.

When born-again and cleansed in water, the expectation is that the peculiar person changes from old person to new. The way to test the efficacy of the Christian experience is by change: the Christian must be a different person than before! The Christian is to be an oddball in the world. The Christian is to be peculiar. Peculiar people are despicable to the world. We are to be the most despicable of the despicable! We are to start telling people of our hope (1 Peter 3:15) and as we do, the world will hate us.

Not being politically correct is being the oddball. Not being theologically correct is being the oddball because most theologians follow the mood of the world. Being correct is worshiping God in spirit and in truth without regard to what the world thinks! We are to be the most despicable to the world because Jesus was. Jesus was killed because he was despicable to the world and even to those religious. We are to be like him and bear his cross just as he did. We are to serve him and all the world knows how despicable slaves are!

Two Masters: Voting Against Your Own Beliefs

I was talking to a fine person yesterday. Before long we were talking politics. He eventually told me that he's a Democrat. I told him I can't be because of the abortion issue. He agreed with me, but said that he overlooks that when he votes. I was astounded!

First off, this man alleged to be pro-life yet voted pro-abortion. The only way that could be is that he considered other issues more important than a human life! I'm not demonizing the man because his intentions are good, but discernment is lacking: there is nothing more important than life because respecting life is the Greatest Commandment on two counts: it's love of others and it's the way we show love to God by loving his creation.

The argument one might use is: I don't hate the baby, but see abortion as necessary. The only necessity is when a pregnant woman is dying in childbirth. However, all attempts must be made to save both. Only if all else fails shall a doctor allow the infant to die, but not induce death.  Almost all other cases of abortion, about 99%, are for convenience sake.

The man, as he voted Democrat, was voting for the convenience of murder. His is not a sin of commission, but omission because he admitted apathy toward human life. By not protecting life he was hating because hating and murder are equivalent (1 John 3:15).

Many have explained this dichotomy to me. It's economic prosperity for which they are perceived to vote. That too is a deception because "Democrats are for the working man," is no more than a slogan. Democrats are for unions and most union people traditionally vote Democrat because of the façade!

God issued hope for Abraham. The covenant with Abraham was that his seed would enjoy prosperity as long as they were obedient. In modern terms this means that Christians are to place higher emphasis on moral values than economic and if they do that, then they will prosper. In fact without obedience they even offend God by asking for prosperity in disobedience!

The master my friend served even though he was serving God also, was Satan. He voted the way Satan wanted him to vote because Satan hates life and smiles when God's people defy God.

Luke 16:13 (ESV) "No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Since the love of money is the root of all evil, who is that "master" that a servant loves? It's the god of self and that is enough to satisfy Satan. People overlook evil in a futile attempt to satisfy their own needs and place self over God. It's the pleasure of the false tree of which they eat and stand away from the Tree of Life.

Christians, if they place God's will first, will prosper. If they have faith in God and are obedient to him, then God will meet all their needs!

Under the Third Reich, Christians voted their pocketbook. They prospered for a time, but were destroyed by the love of money. Hitler came through for them at the expense of millions of lives, but eventually the entire nation collapsed. The same is happening here. With the millions of babies aborted each year, there is a holocaust. The victims are the poor, the handicapped and the unwanted. Abortion usually results from bad choices; the choice to fornicate or remain pure. It has become a form of birth control because people are either in sin or just irresponsible.

Jews were destroyed as a matter of convenience. They were sub-human parasites in Nazi eyes. Does that sound familiar? They paid for their prosperity by sacrificing their people to another god, the God of self, just as those who favor abortion sacrifice their sons and daughters to the modern Molech: pleasure.

Just as the angels sing when one life comes to salvation, they sing too when one life chooses God. Unborn babies will never have that choice because of the convenience of society. Pro-choice is a deception and fools fall for it! It's an admission: I know it's evil, but will turn my head to it. Dead babies are the end result whether it's called pro-abortion or pro-choice. Satan has twisted the words and you may have been twisted in thinking as he spins his lies.

The time for choice is when the temptation to copulate comes. This allows an unborn person to later make his or her own choice by just getting to live. True pro-choice people are those who want to give the unborn a chance to choose for themselves!