Because God Cares

 

The world is being prepared for the time of the end–even at this very moment! Jesus spoke of great signs that would appear before he returned to judge the earth. However, he also warned that most would be totally unaware that anything was going on. In Luke 17:26-30 Jesus said, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.  People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.  But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”  In other words, people will adapt to present situations and explain them away by natural occurrences.  When we read about the signs of the end times in the Bible we may ask, “How can anybody be unaware?”  The Bible testifies that the world will be deceived and that deception will come in part from God himself!

 

Right now, the stage is being set for the culmination of the end. Just look at the world around us and observe the things that “so called” Christians tolerate. We watch sit-coms that mock God and morality, and we laugh. We gain pleasure rather than being grieved by these things! We engage in wicked and abominable conversations. We “tolerate” almost everything and are afraid to stand against sinful values because we don’t want to be accused of being weird or a bigot. We are quick to compromise biblical beliefs when convenient. When we date, we freely commit fornication; when in trouble, we freely lie; when convenient we

“put down” our Christian beliefs and “pick up” hatred, revenge, lust, greed, and all types of things that the Bible calls immoral. We think that God will overlook all this because we say, “Everybody else is doing it.”

 

If we are truly Christians, we need to align ourselves with Jesus. Jesus said that this world’s system rejected him because he “testified that their deeds are evil” (Jn. 7:7). Do we tolerate and celebrate the evil world’s system or do we mourn over it and testify that its deeds are evil? If we tolerate and celebrate the evil of the world, we will be condemned along with it.

 

The Bible tells us, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 Jn. 2:15). In the book of Ezekiel, the Bible explained a time of judgment on the city of Jerusalem. All those who “loved” the sinfulness of the world and engaged in those sinful practices were condemned but those who did not participate in their sinfulness and grieved over it were spared. The command was given, “‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’  As I listened, he said to the others ‘Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.’  So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.”  The judgment began in the temple–the house of the Lord!  This is the same way that God will deal with us!

 

 

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10, the Apostle Paul explained how the end would come. Apparently, rumors began to spread among those in the church of the Thessalonians that they were in the final end-time judgment (2:2). However, Paul stated that two things must happen before the Day of the Lord (the day of God’s judgment upon the disobedient) which will end in God’s people being “gathered to him” and Christ’s return. There must first be a great apostasy and then the revealing of the Man of Sin (better known as the Antichrist–2:3). The “apostasy” is already beginning. It speaks of a wholesale rejection of God. We have totally pushed Christianity out of public life and many are also attempting to reinterpret the truths of the Bible to fit sinful lifestyles. The second sign, the revealing of the Man of Sin, is next. He will be energized by Satan himself. He will be able to do counterfeit signs, wonders, and miracles and will deceive many (see Rev. 13:13-17; Dan. 7:23-26; 11:36-39). He will reinterpret religion as we know it. Many so called Christians will accept him as the Second Coming of Christ. The Muslims will accept him as the last Imam. The New Agers will accept as the Great Guru. He will bring answers to all of humanity’s problems. No one will be able to buy or sale unless they receive his mark. God promises to give people over to this wickedness of their hearts because of their deliberate rejection of the truth. The Bible says, “For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe THE LIE and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness” (2 Thess. 2:11-12). Do not be so arrogant to think that you can live your life in pursuit of worldly pleasure and repent when you see the signs. If you are not close to God, you will not even recognize the signs! The end will come unexpectedly!

 

 

Trust me, beloved, the stage is being set NOW! This MAY be the final generation. This is why Jesus encouraged us to remain spiritually and morally awake. The warning is thus, “Because wickedness will increase, the love of MOST will GROW cold, be he who ENDURES until the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13). Will you join in with the world’s wickedness or trust in Christ and testify about its evil deeds by your words and your life? You cannot serve two masters! To follow Christ, you must radically commit your life to him. What is at stake here is your eternal destiny–heaven or hell. NOBODY gets to heaven by doing nothing. You MUST act by turning from your self-ruled life (repent) and commit all your ways to following Jesus’ will (faith). There is no other way to be saved!

 

 

 

 

 

This has been a common accusation lately. I recently heard a Christian minister who was speaking at a particular function tell a story about this.  A participant at the event approached the speaker and asked if he thought that Jesus was the only way to be saved. The minister said, “Yes. That is my topic today.”  The participant went on to ask, “Why do you hate us?”

 

It is intriguing to me how someone can identify hate with someone’s opinion about reality. Although I feel that certain behaviors are identified by the Bible as sin, does that necessarily mean that I hate the individual who participates in those behaviors? When I identify particular behaviors of my children as wrong, does that infer that I hate them?  My eldest sister is a baptized Jehovah’s Witness at the time of this writing.  According to the Bible, the Jehovah’s Witness organization and those who follow it are not right with God. They teach a different Jesus and practically put their faith in the Watchtower organization to be saved. Unless my sister repents and puts her faith in the Jesus of the Bible alone, she will not be among those who inherit the kingdom of God.  Does that mean I hate my sister? No, I love her very much. I pray for her and try to expose her to the light according to the wisdom of God.

 

It’s totally unfair for certain individuals to try to demonize biblical truth. If you don’t accept their lifestyle carte blanche, they call you a “bigot.” Nobody wants to be a bigot! The Bible is clear; people who practice what it describes as a sinful lifestyle will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-11).  We as Christians recognize any person’s right to live his or her life as he or she chooses as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others.  However, it is also our right as Christians to preach biblical truth, in love, even if we proclaim that another person’s lifestyle is wrong according to the Bible. When we point out what the Bible calls sinful behavior, it is not “hate speech.”  The Bible proclaims that all of God’s laws were given, “for our own good” (Deut. 10:13).

 

 

First, if we are true Christians, we should never compromise God’s truth regardless of the cost to us. Those who compromised God’s truth in the Bible for the sake of unity, prosperity, or even their own safety were numbered among the false prophets. In Jeremiah 23, God condemns the false prophets who “strengthen the hands  of evildoers so that no one turns from his wickedness” (23:14). They kept saying to those who refused to follow God’s ways, “The Lord says, ‘You will have peace,”‘ and “to those who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you”‘ (23:17). But God goes on to say, “But if they would have stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds” (23:22).  As a Christian, I have no right to try to change God’s truth. Ezekiel warns, “When I say to a wicked man, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin and I will hold you accountable for his blood” (Ezek. 3:18). God holds us accountable for refusing to speak the truth in love.  When the religious leaders in Jerusalem commanded Peter and John not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus they said, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God” (Acts 4:19).  We Christians should never stop speaking God’s truth even when it goes against the common culture.

 

Secondly, we should speak the truth “in love.”  Ephesians 4:15 commands Christians to “speak the truth in love.”  We should never be uncaring and hateful. I reject those people who call themselves Christians and spew hatred in the name of God.  When people came to Jesus, regardless of their lifestyle, he never turned them away.  He was kind and compassionate.  It is said of Jesus, “A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Matt. 12:20, quoted from Isa. 42:3).  In other words, he was gentle.  However, he never overlooked sin.  When the woman was brought to him who was caught in the very act of adultery, he did not excuse her behavior.  He told her to “go and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11).  The only people Jesus rebuked harshly were those who were hypocrites (Matt. 23).

 

Finally, as Christians it is our job to persuade people to turn from behavior that the Bible calls sin and show their faith in God by their obedience. The Apostle Paul said, “Since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11).  He went on to say in the same chapter, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God’ (2 Cor. 5:20).  A Christian is supposed to be kind and compassionate, but we are also to make a passionate plea for men, women, boys, and girls to be reconciled to God.  Any person has his or her right to live life as he or she wishes, but it is important to know that “for all these things, God will bring you into judgment” (Ecc. 11:9).  Hence, Christians don’t “force” people to obey God, we “persuade” them. God gave us free will and he will not violate yours.  If you continue in your sinful ways and refuse to turn to God, he will judge you accordingly.  What God calls sin IS SIN. He once spoke about the judgment that would come upon Jerusalem because of their refusal to submit to him, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.  Look, your house is left desolate” (Matt. 23:37-38).

 

 

What will you do?  Will you explain away your behavior and face the fearful judgment of God or will you agree with God and turn from your sinful ways and trust Jesus?  True love tells the truth.  God longs to forgive but we must repent.