Publications and media groups thrive on controversy, and the
body of Jesus (or His Church) has been providing plenty. Somewhere the
people of the Church of Jesus ( those who believe in Jesus and believe
that he is the Son of the Only God) have come to the consensus that the
Kingdom of God is a democracy, that God must yield to the majority
rule.
That’s not true and nowhere in His Word (the Bible) does God imply such
a concept.
The people of the church today seem to believe that if enough people
WANT to be homosexual, or if enough other people, in the interest of
fairness and democracy, agree that God must cede to the will of the
majority, then that is what will happen. The same argument can be used
for people who want to get rid of unwanted babies. The same argument
can
be used for people who want to be unforgiving. The same argument can be
used for people who want to worry or grieve or fear. These huge groups
of people (among others) are all operating under the impression that
because they can force a government to bow to their collective will,
that God must do the same.
God’s Word is very clear to those who have actually read the Bible.
God doesn’t want those who love Him to be unsure about His intentions.
Over the course of the History of Man, God has made several covenants
with Mankind. He gave us good laws which are not only fair, but
practical and logical. The commands he gave us are for our own good. It
is up to us to find out what His commands are and what each one of us
must do under our own circumstances to obey those commands. He never
said we could vote on His commands. If he told us not to be homosexual,
which He did, in no uncertain terms - He refered to homesexuality as an
abomination - then if we feel an inclination to do that, all we have to
do is remember that homosexuality is an abomination to God and DON’T.
You say, "Surely, He didn’t mean that, surely He loves us enough
to let us do whatever we want or what feels good. Surely He doesn’t
expect us to go through life alone just because we are attracted to
someone of the same sex?"
Listen to yourselves.
Where have you heard that before?
Open God’s Word to you and look at Genesis 3:4-5. Satan is talking to
Eve here and She has told him that God commanded (in Genesis 2:17) that
she and Adam shall not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden, the
tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil - for on that day they would
surely die. Satan’s reply to that was, "Ye shall not surely die. For
God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Haven’t we ever wanted to shout, "DON’T BITE THAT APPLE!"?
Don’t let Satan talk you into doing something because, "Surely God
didn’t mean that!"
On the issue of abortion - the government and the people of the world
are in turmoil because no government has ever had the courage to tell
us
we couldn’t indulge in sex outside of marriage. So now we have Aids and
all kinds of horrible venereal diseases. We have young people and
single
adults who have no self-respect and no respect for each other. We have
babies being born to little girls and to women who have lost all hope
of
self-worth. We have babies being killed and we justify these deaths by
referring to the helpless baby as an embryo or a fetus. God had no
problem commanding us not to have sex outside of marriage. He referred
to that particular abomination as fornication. What has been our
response to that?
"Surely that’s an old fashioned idea? Surely it’s unhealthy to go
without sex? Surely God doesn’t expect us to NOT do what we want or
what
feels good? Surely God will understand that I can’t be bothered with a
baby right now? Surely God doesn’t care if the government supports me?
Surely if the fetus hasn’t taken a breath, I can just do this neat
surgical procedure before the head is out of the birth canal where I
can
suck the brain right out of the back of the skull and then it’ll just
not be a baby. Surely it’s too deformed to allow it to live?"
DON’T BITE THAT APPLE!
Jesus told us in Mark 11:25 to "Forgive, if ye have aught against
any: that your Father also which is in Heaven might forgive you your
trespasses." This is a simple command but we know enough about God to
know that he is fully aware of the immense range of offenses which
people are capable of committing. We can send ourselves into a
full-scale depression just thinking of all the offenses WE’VE committed
against God, Himself! What about all the people we’ve let go in and out
of our lives without ever bringing up the subject of God and His
salvation. How many funerals have we attended without knowing whether
or
not that person was saved?
"But he was such a great guy! Surely God didn’t expect me to bring
up such a sensitive issue while we were camping out or watching a
football game or playing golf? What if I offended him? He was my
superior in the company! Surely God doesn’t expect me to jeopardize my
job?"
Now that you’ve got the guy buried, can you say for sure that he’s
with Jesus? Does God forgive you for not finding out and at least
TRYING
to save such a great guy? Yes! God forgives you. And if he can forgive
you for such an offense, how can you not forgive?
"Surely God doesn’t expect me to forgive THAT! You don’t know what
He did to me! He’s walking around right now as if nothing ever
happened."
"Surely God doesn’t expect me to just let it go! She’s ruined my
life. Surely I can’t be expected to forgive that!"
DON’T BITE THAT APPLE!
If God can forgive you for letting that "great guy" go to Hell (for
all you know), you most surely CAN forgive whoever for whatever.
Whatever happened in your life doesn’t involve the enormity of eternal
damnation. From a logical point of view, does the existence of your
unforgiveness hurt anyone else besides yourself? Jesus knew that
unforgiveness was a terrible burden we should not choose to bear.
Jesus told us that in order to get to heaven, we "must be born
again." Paul defined the process of being "born again" as believing
that
Jesus is The Son of God, annointed with "Burden - removing, Yoke -
destroying Power." In order to spend eternity with Jesus, we must
declare that He is our Lord. We agree that He is King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. We expect to experience the joy of his presence in our lives.
We don’t get to vote Jesus out of office if He has told us NOT to do
something we want to do. He didn’t describe himself as being fair. He
described himself as Merciful and Gracious. Don’t make the mistake of
thinking that because you believe in Him, you can make Him into a
government.
DON'T BITE THAT APPLE! He’s not the result of a democracy. He is
Lord!
by the exhortation of the Holy Spirit, to the Glory of God
Merrellee Moore (May 4, 1996)
