I was given a thought today when a lady was on the news complaining about bibles being in hotel rooms. Quite frankly I find this ridiculous and infuriating. How did this "one nation under God" get to this point? Where is the outrage that this 'lady' was complaining about a Bible in a hotel? We have held our silence too long. Too long have we allowed the atheists, the perverts, and the criminals cry and get their way and have allowed our freedoms to slowly erode. Christ had the same challenges in His day and He did not 'go gently into that sweet night". Au contraire.
Mark 11:12 - 21 KJV
12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Now as you might notice if you had read my last posting that I have stayed in the same passage. This was for a reason. Christ in this passage was speaking to Christians in word and example. He cursed a fig tree that wasn't bearing fruit and hence wasn't a fig tree but merely dead weight. Then, and this is where we are starting from , He went into the temple. That was where it went from bad to worse. The temple, the Dwelling place of God, the place where man had access to the Creator of the Universe , had become a business. Christ of course was all polite and said excuse me but should you be here? He was all "bless you" and meekness and piety, right?
Wrong. Christ was thoroughly and righteously fired up. He threw them out of God, His Father's, house. The Pharisees and Sadducees had made the temple a market, but the rituals and rites and outward piety they had made more important.
Matthew 23:13-23KJV
"13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
The Pharisee's were not going to heaven for they knew not God they knew only the power they had over the people. This they used to make religion burdensome on the people and the people were so busy following their rules and regulations that they never found God. Hence the Pharisees' were responsible for them going to Hell.
"14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."
The Pharisees' were taxing the people so hard and using their power to steal property from widow's. Apparently they acted all pious while doing it. This is the outward sign of religion while failing to know and understand God's love.
"15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."
This is perhaps the most damning statement of them all. They get a proselyte (convert) and by following them and their training they are never taught the way of God just the way of money, and this makes them worse than the generation before.
"16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!"
Blind guides. Do you really need me to help on this? Christ is asking them that they can swear by God's house but not by the gold? They have made it a farce. And I am imagining a tone of sarcasm bordering on indignation coming from Jesus as He is speaking to them.
17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mint anise and cumin are small herbs the people were being required to tithe on. Of course all their tithes went to the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. So they once again put more weight on what gave them money and power than on the good of the people. Christ was outraged that they were so busy counting down the smallest of herbs while widows were starving, people were homeless, and their hearts were hurting. They had completely and totally removed God from their religion.
This is the point that I believe that we are fast approaching. We have lost sight of the God of the people. And I am not just meaning the Christians either. We have failed to look after their souls. We have allowed the morals of this country to fall while we have said it can't happen. It has happened. It has happened on our watch and we shall give answer to God on Judgment day as to why we sat on our hands. Why we allowed these PCers (that's politically correct) to win the day largely without a fight. We hear every now and then of a person fighting here or there. Yet in this country we can not get a concerted effort together to fight the landslide into hell this country is on.
Now I have read the Bible and we all know there is to be a falling away in the last days. I get it. We can not stop it. But are we at least trying to slow it down? Are we at least trying to go down fighting? Or are our views more fatalistic and pre-determined?
The good of the people is best served when people are taught right and wrong. When people in the community, city, state, nation are doing what's good and pure. And I know I am in the minority but we must fight back. use all the legal means at your disposal. We have Prayer, churches, emails, phones, votes, senator, representatives, congressmen. We can make a difference.
Turn the House of God back into the place of worship and welfare of souls. We are not a social club, but we are to be a social beacon. Showing the love of God to a hurting world that is looking for something, they just don't know what. We do. They will not know till we use our church as it was intended: an outreach program. Not a place to isolate, stagnate, and petrify.
Mark 11:12 - 21 KJV
12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Now as you might notice if you had read my last posting that I have stayed in the same passage. This was for a reason. Christ in this passage was speaking to Christians in word and example. He cursed a fig tree that wasn't bearing fruit and hence wasn't a fig tree but merely dead weight. Then, and this is where we are starting from , He went into the temple. That was where it went from bad to worse. The temple, the Dwelling place of God, the place where man had access to the Creator of the Universe , had become a business. Christ of course was all polite and said excuse me but should you be here? He was all "bless you" and meekness and piety, right?
Wrong. Christ was thoroughly and righteously fired up. He threw them out of God, His Father's, house. The Pharisees and Sadducees had made the temple a market, but the rituals and rites and outward piety they had made more important.
Matthew 23:13-23KJV
"13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
The Pharisee's were not going to heaven for they knew not God they knew only the power they had over the people. This they used to make religion burdensome on the people and the people were so busy following their rules and regulations that they never found God. Hence the Pharisees' were responsible for them going to Hell.
"14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation."
The Pharisees' were taxing the people so hard and using their power to steal property from widow's. Apparently they acted all pious while doing it. This is the outward sign of religion while failing to know and understand God's love.
"15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."
This is perhaps the most damning statement of them all. They get a proselyte (convert) and by following them and their training they are never taught the way of God just the way of money, and this makes them worse than the generation before.
"16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!"
Blind guides. Do you really need me to help on this? Christ is asking them that they can swear by God's house but not by the gold? They have made it a farce. And I am imagining a tone of sarcasm bordering on indignation coming from Jesus as He is speaking to them.
17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mint anise and cumin are small herbs the people were being required to tithe on. Of course all their tithes went to the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. So they once again put more weight on what gave them money and power than on the good of the people. Christ was outraged that they were so busy counting down the smallest of herbs while widows were starving, people were homeless, and their hearts were hurting. They had completely and totally removed God from their religion.
This is the point that I believe that we are fast approaching. We have lost sight of the God of the people. And I am not just meaning the Christians either. We have failed to look after their souls. We have allowed the morals of this country to fall while we have said it can't happen. It has happened. It has happened on our watch and we shall give answer to God on Judgment day as to why we sat on our hands. Why we allowed these PCers (that's politically correct) to win the day largely without a fight. We hear every now and then of a person fighting here or there. Yet in this country we can not get a concerted effort together to fight the landslide into hell this country is on.
Now I have read the Bible and we all know there is to be a falling away in the last days. I get it. We can not stop it. But are we at least trying to slow it down? Are we at least trying to go down fighting? Or are our views more fatalistic and pre-determined?
The good of the people is best served when people are taught right and wrong. When people in the community, city, state, nation are doing what's good and pure. And I know I am in the minority but we must fight back. use all the legal means at your disposal. We have Prayer, churches, emails, phones, votes, senator, representatives, congressmen. We can make a difference.
Turn the House of God back into the place of worship and welfare of souls. We are not a social club, but we are to be a social beacon. Showing the love of God to a hurting world that is looking for something, they just don't know what. We do. They will not know till we use our church as it was intended: an outreach program. Not a place to isolate, stagnate, and petrify.
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