False Accusers

But understand this, that in the last days difficult  times will come.   For people  will be lovers of themselves,  lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,   unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good,   treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God.   They will maintain the outward appearance  of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

As a believer who studies end time prophecy and watches end time events closely, I have read this passage many times before.  Every once in a while a scripture takes on new meaning, a word that perhaps is easily overlooked, or misunderstood, can suddenly become clear in its purpose.  A lot of times this can be the result of a personal experience that causes new understanding.

There is a word hidden in this passage that is just that.  In verse 3, the word slanderers is easily overlooked.  So often I have read this and just lumped this in with the depravity that we see in the world.  It seemed to refer to the fact that Christianity is becoming a bad word and that more and more people are speaking against it, rejecting it.

Recently, my family has been a topic of discussion on a forum that has a reputation for being downright nasty to those who have differing opinions than their own.  I won't link to it, or even mention it's name, I don't want to give them any traffic at all.  Long story short, there is a particular person on these forums that so hates the fact that we have rescued two ex-orphans from Bulgaria that they took their hatred off of the internet and ventured away from just opinion and has made an accusation against our family.  A false accusation.  The kind of accusation that has the potential to ruin lives.

I know that this accusation has demonic influence, in fact, often times I wonder if there is even a human sitting at the other end of the internet, or if there is direct demonic interaction online at times.

Revelation 12:10 says, "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down."  Satan is our accuser, and he is certainly not going to use true accusations against believers, in fact if you think about it, satan's tactic in the first attack on man was to falsely accuse God Himself (Genesis 3:1).


Jesus was consistently falsely accused (Matthew 12:22-24) and it was false accusations that ultimately led to Jesus' crucifixion.

So lets look at verse three of our original passage again in the Amplified version:

[They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate  and  loose in morals  and  conduct, uncontrolled  and  fierce, haters of good.

2 Timothy 3:3

There it is!  This word slanderers isn't talking about naysayers, this is referring to people throwing false accusations.  And who are they throwing false accusations against?  Certainly not the God who they are sure doesn't exist (at least not directly), but against the true believers.  As the end time approaches, we can expect to be falsely accused by satan in many ways.  So what can we do?

In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].  Put on God's whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies  and  the deceits of the devil.  For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.  Therefore put on God's complete armor, that you may be able to resist  and  stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].  Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity  and  of moral rectitude  and  right standing with God,  And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace. [Isa. 52:7.]  Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].  And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.  Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose  and  perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people).

Ephesians 6:10-18

In our case, truth was certainly on our side.  As the accusation was investigated, it quickly fell apart as the truth was revealed.  There will be a time, I believe, when the "facts" will begin to be fabricated (not for this particular instance, but generally).  I believe this is why our own government likes to collect as much information on us as possible, this information can be twisted and used against us as a way to control us.

But even if accusations lead to difficulty or even death, our reward is on the other side, and the accuser will ultimately be rewarded according to his own deeds.

Tolerance and Judgement

(Disclaimer: I wrote this before 12/02/12 so don't even think about it :)

There seems to be a favorite scripture that people use when you try and point something out as sin. This is particularly the case with obvious sins such as homosexuality that are becoming increasingly tolerated by our culture (and churches). The church stopped judging sin a long time ago and has let it go unchecked even within it's own walls.

You know the verse that I'm talking about:

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37 NET)

So this is a free ticket right? We can do whatever we want and nobody can say a darn thing about it.

WRONG!

The Bible makes a very clear distinction between a person and that person's actions. We are to be tolerant of every person, we are to love every person unconditionally, but that doesn't mean that that person can be allowed to go on sinning as if their sin is meaningless.

"Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?" (1 Corinthians 5:6 NLT)

There are several occasions where the Bible refers to the fact that yeast spreads through the entire lump of dough. There can be no such thing as a sinning and no sinning section in a church any more than there can be a peeing and no peeing section in a swimming pool. Anything that is introduced will spread to the entire body.

The point is that this also applies to sin within the church. Now, you say if we are all sinners then how can we have a sinless church? The type of sinning that we are talking about here is unrepentant sinning. The type of sin where the person knows that it is sin and refuses to stop doing it and repent of it. If you're struggling with a particular sin and are repentant and have asked for forgiveness and are actively trying to not do those things, that is covered by grace.

You still say, "We are not the judge God is, who are we to tell other people they are sinning?" Right, It is not the person that we are judging, but the behavior. 2 Corinthians 6:14 tells us "Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?" How do we know that someone is an unbeliever so that we can be sure not to team up with them? We judge their behavior... In other words, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then guess what? It's a duck. We can see an unbeliever by their actions and we pass judgement on their actions.

Does this mean that we treat that person any differently as a person NO! This is the great lie that we have bought: That if you disagree with the way someone thinks or acts then that means you hate that person and that in order to love someone you have to believe and agree with everything that they do. This simply isn't true.

To tell someone what the Word says is simply pointing them to the way they should go. How are they supposed to know that they need to repent if they are never told? What good would it do for you to tolerate someone's sin just for them to reach judgement day and have to face their creator without the blood covering?

So let's recap: Sin is sin and cannot be tolerated in any form because it will infect everybody it comes in contact with and will spread. People need to be called out on their sin, in a loving way. Tolerate the person without accepting their behavior. Judge the behavior without passing sentence on the person. Yes, we know the punishment for the sin but we are not the ones passing sentence, we have the opportunity to help people avoid their sentence by judging their behavior now, because our Judge provided a way for us to avoid the consequences of our sin if we turn away from it and turn to Him. This is mercy.

If someone claims to be a child of God then that gives all the more reason to call them out on their behavior. We are accountable for each other, we are on the same journey are are here to help each other along this narrow road in a dark world.

And we are NOT to support sinful behavior, and we shouldn't protect someone from the consequences of their unrepentant sin. The only way out is through repentance and forgiveness from God, and that is between the person and God.

The Pain of Adoption

He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds,
crushed because of our sins;
he endured punishment that made us well;
because of his wounds we have been healed. -Isaiah 53.5

     If there is something I have learned over the past few weeks it is that there is a HUGE difference between being born into a family and being adopted into a family.  Even adoption at or near birth I would consider as being born into when looked at through the eyes of someone who has done both.

     What I have also learned over the past few weeks and months is that there is certainly pain associated with adoption.  Emotional pain, physical pain and spiritual pain alike.  Having gone through all of the pre-adoption agony dealing with state red tape and caseworkers who don't seem to have the children's best interest at heart despite what they claim and then going through the pain of bringing a child into the home who has not had any discipline in his life and worse, no expectations to be anything more than an animal, I can see how depraved a person can become when separated from healthy relationship and a family to call his own.

     I can relate to the agony of trying to love when true love is foreign and cannot be returned at the moment.  With only a glimmer of hope that one day love will be returned and your love will be accepted.  I think that I've started to develop a new understanding of why adoption is commanded of us.

     We are taught that tithing will help us learn to become givers like our Father.  I believe this wholeheartedly.  What's the best way to become like someone?  To mimic their actions, to do what they do.

     I have always believed that God loves adoption and wants us to do it because He adopted us and why wouldn't we want to share that love that we have received.  But now I can see two more reasons why God would command that we take care of the orphans.

     The first being of course to make us more like our Father.  What better way to understand what we have been given than to mimic that action and give it ourselves?  We become more like our Father when we adopt because that is what He has done for us.

     Second, these past few weeks have caused me to pause and ponder the similarities to adoption and what Jesus endured leading up to the Cross.  Now, I'm not about to compare myself to Christ, none of us will EVER experience what He did (and we can thank God for that).  But take a step back and compare the two with me...

     Pre-adoption:  Jesus spent His time agonizing over what He had to do in order to adopt us into His Father's family.  The Bible says that the mental and physical anguish was so heavy that he literally sweat blood.  This is like the paperwork, red tape and apathetic caseworkers that we must deal with to get to the adoption.

     The Cross:  The torture that could only have been endured out of true love for a person, Jesus endured and gave love with only a glimmer of hope that we would one day accept that love and return that love to Him.

     Gotcha Day:  That moment in time when Jesus uttered the words, "It is finished."  This was His signature on the paperwork.  Now we have the right to be heirs of the Kingdom of God because Jesus can say, "Gotcha!"  And we have guidance to get through life instead of flying blindly and reacting to situations in survival mode.

     Belief / Acceptance:  That day when we accept the love that Jesus poured out so many years ago and that hope that we would love in return becomes a reality.

     Returning Love:  When we want to return the love that Christ gave to us by giving that same love to others, whether it be through adoption, helping someone who is in need, feeding the homeless, visiting the widows, or whatever else it is that we do to love Jesus.

     I think that this new understanding hasn't fully developed in my puny little brain, but I think that through this experience I have been taught just a little bit more about our Father.

     The other thought that occurs to me is this.  While the pain that I have been experiencing comes from one whiny little ungracious child (at no fault of his own), the pain that Jesus endured was the adoption pain for all of humanity all at once.  Maybe this will straighten me up a bit.  Maybe it will make me not want to rebel against the wishes of the Father, because every rebellious thought or action, also known as sin, piles that much more pain onto the one who paid the ransom so that we have the opportunity to be adopted sons of the living God!

The Silence of Jesus

They led Jesus to the Chief Priest, where the high priests, religious leaders, and scholars had gathered together. Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest's courtyard, where he mingled with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.

The high priests conspiring with the Jewish Council looked high and low for evidence against Jesus by which they could sentence him to death. They found nothing. Plenty of people were willing to bring in false charges, but nothing added up, and they ended up canceling each other out. Then a few of them stood up and lied: "We heard him say, 'I am going to tear down this Temple, built by hard labor, and in three days build another without lifting a hand.'" But even they couldn't agree exactly.

In the middle of this, the Chief Priest stood up and asked Jesus, "What do you have to say to the accusation?"

Jesus was silent. He said nothing.

The Chief Priest tried again, this time asking, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?"

Jesus said, "Yes, I am, and you'll see it yourself:
The Son of Man seated At the right hand of the Mighty One, Arriving on the clouds of heaven."

The Chief Priest lost his temper. Ripping his clothes, he yelled, "Did you hear that? After that do we need witnesses? You heard the blasphemy. Are you going to stand for it?"
They condemned him, one and all. The sentence: death.

Some of them started spitting at him. They blindfolded his eyes, then hit him, saying, "Who hit you? Prophesy!" The guards, punching and slapping, took him away.

 Mark 14:53-65

I love it when there are these gems hidden in plain sight in the Bible.  Things that we don't see simply because we don't understand the culture.  Things that make us really realize how much is still to be revealed about God and who He is.

Six words in the middle of this passage seem harmless enough:  Jesus was silent. He said nothing.

I, like most people, always assumed that he simply didn't want to condemn himself because he didn't want to face what he knew was coming.  You know, plead the 5th so to speak.  But this isn't the reason for His silence at all.  Instead, this silence is a revelation about the nature of Christ and just what it is that we mean to Him.

You see, in Jesus' time, the Jewish court that was started back in the time of Moses had become corrupted by man.  It was not just anymore.  The Sanhedrin manipulated the court system to do their bidding, and here finally before them was a thorn that was in their way: Jesus.

Because of the Roman rule at the time the Sanhedrin no longer could carry out the "justice" that they saw fit, they instead made recommendations to the Roman court about the punishment for religious sins.  That's what this trial was all about.  They wanted to find Jesus guilty of a sin punishable by death so that they could recommend His execution to the Roman court.

They couldn't find anything that Jesus was actually guilty of so they brought in false witnesses.  Now, in order to use a witness' testimony it had to be corroborated by a second witness.  Still, they couldn't find any two witnesses that agreed on their false testimony.

Finally, two witnesses came forward accusing Jesus of claiming to be able to tear down the temple and rebuilt the entire thing in three days.  Although their stories still didn't line up exactly the Chief Priest ran with it.  He asked Jesus if this was true.  Jesus remained silent....

...Why?

To answer that question we need to know another important thing about the Sanhedrin.  You see if you gave testimony in court and it was discovered that the testimony you gave was false, that was immediate grounds for death.  So, sure Jesus could have spoken up to defend himself and proven these witnesses were false, but in doing so He would have condemned them to death and we know from John 3:17 that God didn't send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it.

Isn't it amazing to think that Jesus won't speak an ill word about us?  It's our own sin that condemns us, not Jesus.  He isn't there to point out our sin and show it to the world causing us to be condemned to death.  Instead He is willing to remain silent, even though we don't always speak truth or obey God, he doesn't utter a word because He is willing to take the death sentence in our place.

It just amazes me that we serve a God who can say so much by saying absolutely nothing at all.  Jesus said a lot with His silence and the price for it was incredible, don't let that sacrifice be for nothing.

What's your excuse?

Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.”For God understands all hearts, and he sees you.He who guards your soul knows you knew.He will repay all people as their actions deserve. - Proverbs 24:12

WARNING:  Don't keep reading if you don't want to be held accountable for the things I'm about to say.  Once you read this, you will know...

We seem to always find ways to ignore certain parts of the Bible.  Things that Jesus commanded that we brush of as not pertaining to us.  Have you ever uttered any of these phrases:

• I'm not called to do that.
• Everyone has their area of ministry, and that's not mine.
• I don't have the money.
• I don't have the time.
• Someday I will ...

The list goes on....

We all like to pass the buck.  It's someone else's responsibility, I don't know who's but it's not mine.  Or, someday when I have the money I'll ________.  Fill in the blank.  We want to wait for God to bless us or wait until we know God better to start doing His work.  Tell me what kind of faith does that require?  Philip Yancey says it like this:

“I do not get to know God, then do his will; I get to know him more deeply by doing his will.”

So the question is, what is it that we are supposed to be doing?  We are supposed to be going into the whole world and preaching the gospel to everyone.  We are supposed to do as Paul told the Corinthians and become all things to all people so that BY ALL MEANS we may save some.  (1 Corinthians 9:22)  We are supposed to be taking care of the widows, orphans and homeless (James 1:27).

If there is one thing that I've been learning recently it is this:  Everything I have belongs to God, nothing is mine.  Everything that I have is provided by God, He is Jehovah Jireh, my provider.  So, if nothing belongs to me and He provides it all, then when He asks us to give our money or our time or our talents to someone else, it should be easy, it's easy to give away someone else's money and since He is the provider, then it is easy to believe that He will provide for our needs even though we've just given away the very thing that could have met those needs...  God blesses the ones to are willing to give it all away.

There is plenty of work to do, and time is short.  our churches have become huge stadiums where all the Jesus fans go on Sunday to cheer him on.  But the moment there is some sacrifice or discomfort, we're out.

So I ask you, what is your excuse for ignoring God's work?

What's so important in your life, what comfort are you holding so desperately to?

Your House? Your Car? Your TV? Your favorite restaurant?  Your Christmas presents?  Your vacation?

God knows you "deserve" all of these things right? But don't worry, God will understand one day when he asks us why we didn't take care of the homeless man down the street because we had to pay $86 this month to the cable company so we could watch the latest episode of our favorite show.

 Did you know that even the poorest Americans are richer than 80% of the rest of the world?  Kind of puts things in perspective...

Let's play with a few numbers...

Let's say the average movie theater has 20 screens and each theater holds on the low side 200 people.  The cost for a regular adult ticket around here is $9, and let's say each screen shows 2 movies between 7PM and Midnight.  So every 2 hours the theater moves 4000 people through at $9 a ticket, that's 8000 tickets for a good night or $72,000!   Oh and let's not forget the popcorn and drinks, that adds what? another $15 per person, lets say half of the people get a refreshment: So that's another $60,000.  $132,000!  Let's also say that the average cost of an international adoption is $30,000.  Congratulations, collectively, your night of entertainment just caused 4 orphans to remain captive in an orphanage, but I'm sure God understands that you deserved to see that movie.

Feel guilty yet?  You should, I do.

Let's also consider an average church of 1000 members.  I'm sure each member can part with $30 one week.  1000 people at $30 = $30,000.  You know those medical bills that you fellow church member is struggling to pay for?  One body, one week, no more bills.  But don't worry, I'm sure God will understand that you needed to go out to eat after church instead of making your own meal.

Feel guilty yet?  You should, I do.

What excuse will you give God when he asks why to traded this...

for this...

or this...

for this...

Feel guilty yet?  You should, I do.

Am I saying that its wrong to go to a movie or eat out?  absolutely not!, but God's work should not be compromised for these luxuries that we "deserve".  what kind of sacrifice is it if we have everything and give nothing.  If we give freely and help when we know help is needed, God will bless us with these things that we enjoy, but we have got our priorities mixed up.  We are entertaining ourselves to death and not doing any of God's work.

So, I ask the question again.  What's your excuse?  What's your excuse for ignoring God's work when you "know" that it needs done?

Well, I warned you... now you know, and now you will stand before God without excuse and answer for your action, or inaction as the case may be.

Go, and do some God work.

This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. - 1 John 3:16-17

Adoption is not an afterthought

But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. - Galatians 4:4-7

<rant>

I'm coming to realize that the church in America considers adoption to be an afterthought to all of the other programs that it supports.  This is backward thinking.  THE reason that Jesus came to planet earth was so that we can be adopted as God's sons, joint heirs with Jesus.  I don't think that we truly grasp this concept.  We have been ADOPTED by God.  This is why caring for the fatherless is so important to God, WE are the fatherless, the spiritually fatherless.  WE have been adopted by God himself with a huge price tag. Jesus paid the ransom with His life in order to free us from our orphanage, called sin.

Wake up church and realize that adoption is not something nice that God wants us to do to earn extra points.  Adoption is THE point.  When we take care of the fatherless and needy here on earth, it's as if we are doing this for Jesus himself.  The Bible says that if we don't take care of the needy, the poor, the fatherless, the widows, that we are "goats" and he will say he never knew us.  Why should God acknowledge us if we refuse to do for others what He has done for us?

I'm very disappointed at the church's attitude, we're missing the point.   I think a lot of "Christians" will be shocked to find out one day that they ignored the heart of the great commission.  "Go into all the world and preach the good news."  What's the good news?  God paid the price so we can be adopted as His sons!  the good news is not that we can live a happier life because the great genie will grant you all of your wishes...  What a horrible state the church is in..  Selfish Christianity is what it is... what's in it for me?  The church isn't filled with Christ Followers, it's filled with fans...

</rant>

Fan or Follower?

I don't think this video needs any help....