Why?

There is much talk about the recent death of a man that has been labeled as a wonderful preacher. He has been ushered into Heaven by just about everyone that mentions his name. I recently wrote a post about how all of mankind seem to be happy to judge the eternal condition of ones soul once that person dies and without fail the judgement handed out is the entry into heaven. 

It does not matter if the deceased person is a rock star, preacher, or devil worshiper, they are given a free pass into heaven. Such is the case with the recent passing of an iconic preacher whose name is a household word in America. 

It would seem that he is the go-to person for all things 'Christian'. It is not my way to name names on here although I don't mind handing out enough details for the majority of readers to figure out who I am referring to. 

While I care about the eternal home of this man's soul, I also find myself thinking that he would have had to have a major change in beliefs...a regenerating...born again kind of change to find himself in heaven. But even as I say that I can't help think that I shouldn't say such a thing because this man did profess a faith in Christ and who am I to even speculate on when or where the right faith in Christ is? But...this man did not believe Christ was the only way into heaven, he 'made friends' with various religions and 'saved' millions, ushering them into 'salvation' by way of preachers/teachers/leaders from whatever belief this person had before attending one of his mass services.

I can't say I know much about this man or his beliefs. I never attended his programs, never read his books, never watched him on television. To be honest I never cared all that much for him even before I held to the Reformed faith. Probably 20+ years ago I owned a book written by his wife. It sat on my shelf until I gave it away. I can't even remember how I came by it but I do remember that I never read it.

Even now I find myself thinking more of the death of a reformed preacher than I do of this so-called 'Christian' and his death, not because one is any more important than the other, although if one is elect and the other reprobate than the Lord does care more for one than the other. Both of these men left this earthly life behind in the last few months. I, personally, was not fond of either one. I found the reformed man to be greedy and the other to be spreading a faith I do not share.

IF I were going to be bothered about either one of these men's teachings, it would be the reformed preacher because he appeared to be mixing the love of money with the true gospel. It can't be both ways. Scripture says man will either love God or money but not both. The Reformed preacher seemed to be loving both.

It's not my intent to write about that Reformed preacher today. I am sure that subject should be tackled. Someone needs to point out that begging money from your followers is not a good image for someone claiming to follow Christ. Even more so, it should be noted that Christ and His disciples gave the gospel away for free but the Reformed preachers of our time need millions to do the very same thing.

Why?

Who is it that they are loving? Who or what is most important to these Reformed men that wallow in money and beg for more under the guise of sharing the gospel when Scripture says, 'freely you received, freely you should give'.

Yet, the reformed preachers today do not seem able to do that anymore than the popular preacher who recently left this earth and his earthly legacy behind. The difference seems to be that when a popular, much loved preacher dies there is great fanfare from the masses proclaiming him to be in heaven, even the president of the United States spoke about his death. While the passing of the Reformed preacher made waves in the Reformed circles but those waves were only tiny ripples in the huge pond of our country.

A man that basically stated all roads lead to heaven so long as you are 'sincere' on those roads is mourned deeply. The man that preached Christ alone is hardly missed. Again, I am not a fan of the Reformed preacher that passed away but there is no denying that he preached  Christ while the other  man preached popularity.

I can't help thinking of this man's popularity in a country that claims to be Christian but despises true Scripture.

When I first met my husband he informed me that he would not be welcomed in the 'church' I attended at the time. I knew that my 'church' had welcomed practicing pagans, self professing witches, and others so I seriously doubted that my husband would not be welcome. I asked the preacher if he would be welcome and was told he would be welcome to attend but would not be welcome to teach. I found that humorous in a way because at the time their Bible study teacher was a man asking people if it were possible there were people created for the purpose of going to hell, a man that believed in predestination. I did not tell the preacher that.

The thing is that if a person holds to the Reformed faith they were not welcome to teach classes in a nondenominational 'church'. Even among 'Christians' that faith is ridiculed and scorned. Yet the masses embrace a man whose teachings on 'Christ' are wishy washy and embrace all manner of religious beliefs. He was in cahoots with Roman Catholicism. He said AIDS was a judgement from God only to retract that statement when the masses complained.

All people make mistakes. Even the most studious Christian can inadvertently make a false statement. There is nothing wrong with issuing an apology to any that may have heard that mistaken comment. The problem comes in when someone claiming to be Christian is preaching and teaching hundreds of thousands, or millions, and those accidents happen more than once or when other signs are present that that person is not adhering to Scripture.

Is a man that brings Roman Catholicism into his teachings of Christ a born again believer? And more importantly why is he lauded as being the person to follow? Scripture says that the world will hate Christians yet this so-called 'Christian' was loved by the world.

I can't honestly say I have anything against the man. He was no different than any other false teacher, no different than 99.9% of preachers in America. He gave the same basic message people can hear in just about every 'church' every Sunday morning.

What made this man different?

Nothing but his popularity. He drew crowds like musicians draw fans. Concert halls and venues are packed to capacity when a star comes to town. This man packed audiences in the same way. He was no different than those musicians coming to town to spread their message of music to any fan that will listen. The only thing is that his message was a bit different. Instead of screaming lyrics into microphones he screamed Jesus.

Anywhere that Jesus' name is used the possibility of salvation is there. Just yesterday I saw people debating this man on a reformed site. One woman, supposedly a born again believer, told how her mother was genuinely 'saved' at one of his programs. And maybe she was. Who am I to say one way or the other?

I just don't understand why there's such an outcry by those in the Reformed circles over this preacher and his supposed 'Christianity' when the same people never said a word about the Reformed preachers demanding of money and support for his ministry.

Oh, I understand that one man 'led people astray' with his heresy but in my opinion the other was so much worse. A lost man leading around a bunch of other lost men can't really do them any more harm than they are doing themselves but if a man that knows where he is and where he should be going leads men, whether lost or 'found', in a way that shows them paths that are not right...is that not so much worse?

If a lost man teaches what he knows out of his own condition...wrong though his teaching may be...are those teachings so horrible as to result in the outcry from those that are regenerate when those same regenerate people did not call a fellow believer to task for his begging and demanding of money? Which wrong is the real wrong? Which one is the worse offense?

If a lost man goes on being lost and leading people along the same past, perpetuating their lost state...the lost people are all in the same boat. A blind man leads other blind men. The masses flocked to hear this preacher preach things of 'Christ', they walked the aisles to their 'salvation', they gloried in this man's wonder, loved him, embraced him and they did so to their own detriment. No different than the people that send hundred dollar bills to televangelists to 'plant a seed' or whatever it is that money is supposed to do when it's plain to see for anyone with the least bit of common sense that these people are hucksters swindling unsuspecting people out of their money.

In a similar fashion this popular 'Christian' man hocked his wares, peddling 'Jesus', swindling people out of their salvation. He led masses of people to the cliff of destruction and if he didn't personally push them over the edge he stood back while his religious advisers shoved them off. And what was the landing at the bottom of the cliff? Nothing short of an eternity in hell.

He was wrong.

He was a false teacher.

He was a lost man leading other lost people. But that lost man preached the name of 'Jesus' and spread at least some miniscule speck of the gospel and he might just have been the instrument the Lord used to save a handful of the elect.

I am not saying we shouldn't point out that his brand of 'Christianity' was wrong. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been taken to task for what he was doing. He should have been. He should have been called out long before he died. There should have been an outcry against his mass meetings every single time he held one. Now that he's dead there should be, and there is, an outcrying of Christians refuting his 'Christianity' and his position in heaven.

Again, I am not personally opposed to this man or his business. He was no different than the heretical preachers in every pulpit across the country. He counted success in numbers, be it money, souls, or attendees. In doing so he made 'Jesus' a household name and popularized 'Christianity'.

As I said before, I personally have less problems with a lost person preaching a 'Christ' that isn't of the Scriptures than I do a Reformed preacher leading masses of people, raking in millions of dollars, and begging for more money. At least the lost have the distinction of being lost. Even when they preach of 'Christ' and lead millions astray, they are still lost. In their own sins they are peddling the 'Christ' they understand, pushing the 'salvation' they know onto others. Whatever a lost persons motive is for evangelizing so many others they are still...lost. They are unregenerate.

Whether they teach and preach a false gospel out of intent or ignorance their own condition is that of a lost soul and so therefore should not be condemned too harshly for what they are doing. They should be corrected in life, yes. They should be pointed out as the false teacher, as the heretic, they were, certainly, but they are still...lost. Unregenerate. Possibly reprobate.

There is an excuse for them.

There is no excuse for a reformed Christian giving the true gospel but leading millions astray through their own greed. What kind of example does a reformed preacher set when he leads by way of begging money from people while his 'ministry' is worth millions?

Paul was the greatest evangelist....greatest teacher...greatest preacher...that ever walked the earth following Christ and he was able to do it without begging money off of others. Why then is it necessary for our modern reformed preachers to do what Paul did not? Why do we overlook the way reformed preachers peddle Christ, growing rich off of others, applauding them in death and speaking of what a great teacher and preacher he was and then bemoan the horrors of a lost man leading many astray through his preaching?

Which is the worse evil? Which is the greater wrong? For a lost man to lead other lost souls to an eternity they were already facing or for a man that understands the Scriptures to defy them and lead other Christians through that defiance.

Why not cry foul before every last reformed preacher that makes hundreds of thousands...millions...off the Gospel that Christ gave us for free? Why not take them to task while they live and bemoan their failings after they die?

A person that leads through ignorance or lack of knowledge is still leading the wrong way but at least there is an excuse for them.

What excuse does every reformed preacher, leading a group of people from a pulpit or couch cushion, have when they understand the Scriptures but choose to misapply the ones about preaching and teaching or about loving money? They may profess with their mouths one thing but their actions show another.

And where is the outcry against the reformed Christians that peddle Christ every day? Why take a lost man to task after his death when they overlook the men that are supposed to be true Christians failings?

Why?

A Nation of Eternal Judgement

This post is going to wind up being one in what will become a series of posts on Bible studies. I posted the first one, Drowning in Bible Studies here: http://journeyingtochrist.blogspot.com/2018/02/drowning-in-bible-studies.html. This post will most likely become the second post in this inadvertent series.

This post is another one that I had no intention of writing. This thought was not on my heart or mind. It did come up twice in the same day though, once online and once with my husband. As a result I found myself in the midst of a discussion that may as well have been a Bible study with my husband. It's not something I went looking for, it just happened. And it happened in the midst of several other things of a Scriptural nature.

A popular evangelist recently passed away and it would seem that the world is rushing to say that he has gone from this earthly life to a heavenly life. It is assumed that this icon has passed into the presence of Christ.

Why the assumption?

Because...because...because he taught of 'Jesus' and 'led' people to 'Christ', 'saving' them. At least that seems to be the reason it's assumed that this man is now in heaven. I'm not saying that he isn't in heaven. He could be. Only the Lord knows the answer to that. I am saying that my understanding of Scripture does not allow me to assume this man is in heaven.

I do not wish to delve too deeply into that topic at the moment. It's not my intent to discuss one man but rather to address a much bigger issue. That of assuming that when someone dies they have gone to heaven.

I have been to very few funerals in my life. In fact I make it a point to try and avoid all funerals. I do not go to them if I can keep from it. When my grandpa passed away I went to the family night, skipped the viewing, and did not go to the funeral. This is a very personal choice for me. It is something I feel I need to do for me. You see, I do not want the last encounter I have with someone to be when they are dead. I chose not to view my grandpa's body, or to go to the funeral because his body would be on view, in order to be able to remember him as he was the last time I saw him.

I guess you could say I am sheltered. I have been to a grand total of three funerals/memorials, and one family night, in my life. I have been blessed to be touched by only a few deaths so far and have been in a position each time, usually through cremation, to be able to avoid seeing those I loved in death. I know the day is coming when that will change but for now it is that way.

But there was a theme through each of those memorials that also runs through every conversation, or just about, that I have ever heard after a person dies. I'm also going to go a bit further and say I have heard this same theme used when an animal dies.

That theme is the steady stream of statements about how the deceased person 'is in a better place' or 'is in heaven' followed by the inevitable statements of 'we will see them again' and 'we will all be together again'. Just yesterday I was told by someone that very much denies that salvation comes through Christ alone that we could have a good conversation when 'we get to heaven'.

There is this myth cycling through much of the American people that all who die go to heaven. It just seems to be a common assumption. I can understand. No one wants to think the people they love so dearly in this life are burning in hell once their last breath is taken. I'm sure that myth cycles through those in other countries too but since I am not in those other countries to see how they react to death I will keep my thoughts centered on the country in which I live. And this country has made it a point of assuring everyone that each and every person that dies is in heaven.

I have a relative that not only denied any belief in Christ for most of his entire life, which happened to be very long, but he denied a belief in God in any way. I am told that in his final weeks he 'asked Jesus into his heart' and therefore died a 'Christian'. I do not know the true condition of this beloved relatives soul upon his death. I have family that gets great comfort from the knowledge that this relative 'asked Jesus into his heart' before he died. I squirm inside each time I hear those words spoken but I, for the most part, leave my relatives with the belief that he is now in heaven.

I do not gain the same comfort from this relatives supposed conversion in his final weeks. I hope and pray that it was genuine and that he now resides with our Lord but I do not know that that is the case and I draw no comfort in his supposed conversion in his final hours. I just take it as it is, knowing that death bed confessions of faith often stem from fear and the need for comfort and not from any real belief.

I will go further, to a much, much, much harder place for me. I have lost three babies. They died before they ever lived. One of which I was blessed to get to hold in my hands, to marvel at the amazing tiny little person even as I grieved for the passing of such a young life. I still hurt for those babies. I ache for them. I miss them often. I know exactly how old they would be now and when their birthdays would have been, at least I know the month they would have been born in. I know the day they died and recall with painful accuracy the details of their passing.

But I do not know the condition of their souls.

In my mind and heart they died in total innocence. I know Scripture says we are conceived in sin, are born in sin. I know that. I understand that. I know Scripture gives no assurances on what happens to the innocents that die. Just yesterday I had someone question me on that very thing. I could not assure them their one year old is in heaven. I could no more do that than I can assure myself my lost babies are in heaven.

And yet people on television, on the radio, on the internet, and on the street corners are assuring anyone that will listen that this evangelical teacher is now in heaven. This man did teach on Christ, on God, on Scripture but he also taught false things, only some of which are the fact that anyone that was sincere enough would go to heaven whether they believed in Christ or not. That man who said God would have a wide mercy on all of mankind is being announced to be in heaven as if those on earth have the ability to ensure his entry into the pearly gates.

And why not?

After all, they grant entry into heaven like they give passes to a free event in a city park. Anyone that passes by the way, or in this case dies, is allowed to enter with no greater price paid for their ticket than the losing of their life.

I'm not saying losing ones life isn't a huge price to pay. It is. It's the greatest price a person can pay. But it isn't the price charged for admission to heaven. That doesn't seem to go through the minds of the people handing out free passes though, including this evangelical icon that said God would have mercy on multitudes of people regardless of their belief in Christ.

According to the masses, this man, this...paragon...now lives with Christ. But by the same token, so does every other person that has passed away. Oh, and so does their dog, cat, bird, and goldfish. Everything but their houseplants are given a pass to heaven upon death.

Funny thing is, the masses that hand out these get into heaven free passes are, as a whole, the same people that are quick to say 'don't judge' should anyone tell them anything they do is the least bit wrong. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard someone start a sentence with the words 'don't judge' I would be rich. Not that I want to be rich and I sure don't want a dollar for every don't judge statement I hear. In all honesty I would much rather just not hear those words at all. Every time I hear those words I cringe inside. My body reacts the same as it does when I hear profane words.

'Don't judge' has become a banner statement for this nation and time. Don't judge my sin. Don't judge my life. Don't judge my choices. Don't judge me. And they certainly don't want anyone judging their eternity.

At least that's what they claim.

The person I was drawn into conversation with yesterday would have nothing of hell except for her own version of it which was basically the idea that ones own discomfort in their choices is hell. This woman had been through a very traumatic experience and I understand that our own thoughts can torture us but that does not make them hell.

Most people will not be drawn into a conversation on hell as Scripture describes it. Most people do not want to hear about it. They don't want to think about it. They don't want to know about it. And so, somehow, it is conveniently erased. Zap. Just like that, it goes away because it makes people uncomfortable. Even so-called preachers rarely touch it.

And why?

Because no one wants to be told they are going to hell. They do not want to be told that God hates them. They do not want to believe that their is any price to be paid beyond whatever their own version of punishment for the bad that they do on this earth is.

And that punishment is rarely the hell Scripture teaches on. Even those that claim to be 'Christians', even those that sit in 'Church' buildings every Sunday, even those that read their Bibles every day...

They.

Do.

Not.

Want.

To.

Hear.

About.

Hell.

Hell, as in the fiery inferno. Hell as in the gnashing of teeth. Hell as in the place of punishment. Even this paragon of 'Christian' evangelical belief did not, could not, or would not, tell people that they would burn in hell if they failed to believe in Christ unto salvation.

Instead he gave them false assurances and now the world is giving those same false assurances back to him. They are grieving the loss of this beloved teacher, mourning his passing as they do any public figure that they love, and they are patting each other on the back, assuring all who will listen that this 'wonderful' man has passed into his just reward in heaven.

Why?

Not why are they assuring all that he is in heaven but why is it that they can judge the condition of his soul without anyone telling them- Do Not Judge Him.

When great Aunt Sally died... When Uncle John passed...When Papa George took his last breath... When Amy, Fred, Nicolas, Johnny, Jimmy, Carol, Bobby or...whoever died, they are all quick to rush in and be the judge and jury on the final condition of their soul. Whether the person doing it is a 'preacher', 'teacher', parent, child, funeral home director, or stranger on the street, they pass a final judgement on the condition of the deceased person's soul and inevitably the condition of that soul is found to be in heaven.

I've never heard anyone say 'they've gone on to hell now. You'll see them again." Why not? What's the difference? If the masses can pass judgement on ones soul for the sake of sending them to heaven, why can't they do it to send them to hell?

I'm not saying we can ever send anyone to heaven or hell. I do not think that at all. Only the Lord can give or withhold salvation. Our eternities rest in His hands alone. But it would seem that people in America believe wholeheartedly that they know where a person goes when they die. And I guess in their minds they do know.

When salvation is had because 'God loves all' or 'Jesus loves the sinner' or when you can 'come just as you are' then there is no downside, no loss, no punishment. When pet Rufus, Fifi, and little Goldie go to heaven with the same security as 'good' people do, when 'bad' people can be redeemed simply by dying no matter what they did in this life... Well, when there is no true hell because hell is just too uncomfortable to think about, then all who die go to heaven.

What would these same people do if everyone that dies were proclaimed to be in hell instead? What if the next time great Uncle John takes his last breath everyone were to tell his friends and family, 'I'm so sorry he's gone to a worse place. He's now in hell where he can live forever in the eternal torment for the sins he committed on earth'. What if people said those things?

What if instead of saying 'he's in a better place' people said, 'he lied and stole, he had an affair with his secretary and lusted after women in town. He was vulgar and hate-filled. He beat his kids and cussed his wife. He was a bad person that has gotten his just reward and is now being tortured in hell as he deserves'?

What if people said that?

I'm not saying we can know anyone is in hell. Eternity is in the Lord's hands. But we can know that certain things do not bode well for one's ability go to heaven.

If great Uncle John's dying words were 'do not tell me of Christ. God is a lie, he does not exist and I don't want to hear about it', than it's a pretty good idea that your next words should not be to assure his grieving widow that he is 'now in heaven'.

But people do that very thing every day. I understand that our human hearts and minds need comfort. Even our bodies need comfort. I sit on my couch because it's more comfortable than the floor. I sleep in my bed because it's more comfortable than my bathtub. We have become a nation of comfort.

We want it. We seek it out. We need it. Comfort has been so ingrained in our minds and our culture that we look for it whether we realize it or not. We take vacations in places that comfort us. We buy furniture based on how comfortable it is. We eat foods that give us comfort. We drink things that comfort us. We live to be comforted.

Everywhere we look, we can see this comfort life. It's not hard to understand, not hard to believe. I do not want a large flat rock for my bed, nor do I want a thorn bush for a chair. I am one of the odd ones, the crazy ones, the...whatever they chose to call me because I do not want comfort in false assurances. I do not want to be told that my uncle that committed suicide in prison is in heaven when I know there is little chance of that. I would much rather be reminded that 'the wages of sin is death' and that hell awaits the sinner. I would much rather be told that my uncle lived a life of sin, that he took his own life, that he did not put all of his faith in Christ and therefore that it is unlikely that he is in heaven now.

I don't want to be told that this popular 'preacher/teacher' is in heaven. I want to be shown where his teachings differed from Scripture. I want to be told that he did not put all of his faith in Christ and Christ alone. I want to be shown that he loved fame and money and used those to his advantage and pointed to Scripture where we are told that we cannot love both God and money.

I do not want to be told that a Reformed Christian preacher that recently passed away is in heaven. I want to be told that this man regularly begged for money through his ministry and how his beliefs seemed to be in line with Scripture but that we can never know the condition of another's soul. I want to be told that Scripture says we will see the fruit of the Spirit in those that are born again and that we should test ourselves to see if we are in the faith. I want to be reminded that there will be many that will cry 'Lord, Lord' only to be told, 'depart me from, I never knew you.' I want to be reminded that although none of the elect will ever be lost we can never be certain of our place among the elect. There will clearly be 'Christians' that believe themselves to be born again that will spend an eternity in hell.

I want to be reminded of those things because it keeps me on my toes. I do not want to be given a false comfort. I don't want to grow complacent.

But it seems that the majority of people want just such complacency. They want empty assurances that their loved one, favorite movie star, rock star, preacher, or dog has moved from this life and into an eternity in heaven. They want the false comfort of believing their mother is sitting in a rocking chair in heaven with their beloved dog by her side.

Don't get me wrong, my human heart wants badly to believe the babies I lost have been given eternity in heaven. My mother's heart anguishes at the thought that those little souls might have experienced anything else. I cannot bear the thought that they are not spending eternity in heaven and so I try hard not to dwell on those details. I remember my babies with love and joy, content myself in knowing they could not have been loved more in their short lives on this earth. But I do not comfort myself in false thoughts that my babies are 'in Jesus'arms'.

Would doing so not be to pass judgement on their souls? Would it not be to judge the eternal condition of their souls? Is that not exactly what 99% of the American population does every time they are confronted with death?

Why is it that they can so freely judge the final condition of the soul...or lack of soul in the case of animals...but anyone that dares to so much as tell them they are wrong are told to 'don't judge'?

We have become a nation of people that judge the eternal souls of others while they throw fits over being judged.

Drowning in Bible studies

Is it possible for a person to drown in Bible studies? If so I might just be about to go under. I say that in the lightest most teasing way although it's hard to convey that through written word.

Yesterday I sat down with the intention of writing a post on studying the Scriptures (that will come soon) and found that my thoughts and typing fingers decided to write something other than what I intended to write. I wound up sharing about my most reached for Bible instead. Later I wondered what the point to sharing that really was and finally decided that since I did not set out to write that post then I had no point to it but the Lord must have wanted me to share something that is so personal to me. Maybe someone reading this is wondering about my Bible. I do not know. Regardless of the reason for it, I wrote it and have scheduled it to post on my blog because someone might want to read it.

After finishing that post I went back to trying to write what I had originally set out to write, a post about Bible study in my home, more specifically about Bible study between my husband and I. The second try did not turn out any better than the first one did. My sister called and informed me that she had posted something Scriptural on social media and been accused of being satanic and could I please go look at it and tell her if what she said was satanic.

Off I went to give my sister a quick, for me, answer and almost as soon as I posted my reply...there was nothing satanic in her post...the person that had said it was satanic addressed a comment to me. That single comment drew me into a conversation with a lost person that lasted the better part of yesterday, granted it was off and on and carried out completely through social media comments.

This morning I was greeted with an article on a reformed group about a famous evangelist and his state of eternity. It was not directed to me but to the entire group so I could have simply ignored it and moved on. That didn't happen though because the person sharing the article wrote something that got my curiosity up...I know, curiosity killed the cat. I should have remembered that because while my family was sleeping I was busy reading an article that got my mind spinning with Scripture and the eternal consequences (good or bad) of our beliefs. I even engaged in a brief conversation about the article with another reformed woman.

When my family woke I set my internet device aside...okay, it was my phone...and I switched to caring for them but my mind did not switch gears, Scripture and thoughts of beliefs, salvation, and eternity filled my mind as I went about my tasks.

When time allowed I shared the last comment the person had made to me on my sisters social media post with my husband. By that time I had discussed it with my sister and had an entire night to think and pray on what to do. My husband's response to what this person wrote was pretty much the same as mine was and his solution was the same one I had come to...draw the conversation to a close and bow out. Staying in it was serving no purpose but to throw my pearls before swine.

But sharing that with my husband opened up more Bible study on beliefs and salvation. And on the lengths people will go to in their belief on salvation.

Without me saying a word to him about the article I read on the reformed group my husband brought up the same evangelist I had read about and how everyone is so quickly and eagerly pointing out that he is in heaven.

Which, of course, started another bible study.

On top of all of that, I have a long distance friend that I have been doing a bit of Bible study with long distance and my thoughts occasionally go to what I need to write to her.

And so, here I sit, my thoughts swirling and my heart well, how do I explain exactly what it is my heart does when my mind is filled with things of Scripture?

There is no point to this post, no learning for me, no pulling together of my thoughts. It is simply a post I felt led to write, to share, because I find myself in this situation of drowning in Bible studies at the moment. And somehow, through some miracle of the Lord's making, they all tie together. Every last one of them.

Sin

Sin is a strange and remarkable thing. It’s innocuous and horrible at the same time. It slips in without the sinner noticing it’s there. It jumps in and consumes a sinner in one fell swoop. It’s barely there and it’s all consuming at the same time.

As I write this I am holding a sleeping baby. This small little person has only been on this earth a handfull of months. In that time the baby has done no wrong, not in human eyes anyway. All actions have stemmed from need, the need to eat, the need for love, the need for companionship and care. What may appear to be selfishness in the first six or so months of life is more often than not the child’s attempt to adjust to life outside the womb and to have all its needs met.

And yet...somewhere deep within that child, deep in the heart, there is sin. It sits there, lurking, hidden from view, waiting to make its presence known. Like an intruder hiding in a closet, sin hides in the heart. It will one day make an appearance but infancy isn’t when it shows, at least not really. Yes, this sleeping child fights having a diaper changed and getting its nose cleaned. It sometimes cries at being restrained or left by a parent. It whines when it can’t reach something or doesn’t feel good. Squirms and complains in a baby kind of way when sleep doesn’t come easily or deeply. But is that really sin?

I can only answer that from my human mindset and in my humanness, I would have to say those things are more about having needs that must be met by another than it is about sin. The Lord built wonderful things into babies to see to it that they tug at the heartstrings and that cause older kids and adults to want to help them.

Big eyes and small baby sounds draw the attention and pull the nurturing out of almost all people that encounter a baby. Cries are pitched so that they bring out a ‘I must fix whatever is wrong, NOW’ reaction. Particularly in women. These are things the Lord placed into babies to draw out a certain reaction from those in a position to care for and nurture them.

I saw an article a year or so ago about cows that found a baby...something, I forget what the animal was...stuck in the mud. The cows stood in a circle around the baby, protecting it the best they could until people came and rescued it. The article spoke of how babies are made to draw out that nurturing instinct, especially in females, even in the animal kingdom.

So my human heart and mind cannot see the things young babies do as being sin although my Scriptural understanding is that those babies are created with sin in their hearts. It lives within even the most innocent of people, lying dormant until whatever time it comes to the surface and shows in the actions of that person.

Even the elect are not immune to sin. We all do it. Scripture talks of it often and in great detail. We are told how it comes to be in people, who the author of it is, the punishment for it, and more. Knowing all of that, having it spelled out before us, we still find ourselves mired in it. Even those born again, regenerated, elect people of God commit it every single day.

And we encounter it in others, strangers and loved ones alike, as we go about our lives. There isn’t a day that goes by, a breath we take, a moment we live, that we are not surrounded by and mired in sin.

To live…

Is to sin.

Scripture tells us that we must all live out the lives assigned to us. For many years I had no idea of that bit of wisdom passed down from the Lord. Hidden within what appears to be a very long book, placed in the midst of much instruction and teaching, lies a tiny granule of a huge treasure. It’s located in 1 Corinthians 7:17 and says…

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

I can think of that verse and remember it day in and day out but let me get faced with people committing certain sins and those sins push just the right button to create an immediate and human reaction in me. There are just some things in this life that I handle a lot better than others and certain human traits push every button I have. And try though I might I cannot seem to not find myself bothered by those traits. And in my humanness I tend to forget that each person was set in the life they have.

And yet...people everywhere sin. I have found myself thinking a great deal on sin lately. It just kind of keeps coming back to me. When I started writing this I had encountered a couple of things in my personal life where sin was involved. I thought of sin then. I thought of how different people are overpowered by certain sins, much the way some people have interests in one thing or another. I like dolls. My husband likes golf. I have relatives that love exercise, video games, movies, concerts, and more. Each person is drawn to what interests them.

It seems to me that we are just as drawn to certain sins. Adultery is not my sin. I cringe at the very thought. It was never my sin. Even in my young teens I remember being appalled by adultery. But I was drawn into romance books which is, in many ways, a love affair of the heart. I gave up romance novels when I married but I read more than my share of them before then. Were those books sin? Some of them were. Some of them had explicit adult only situations that must be some kind of written pornography.

Those books were far from my only sins but I was drawn to them from a young age through no intent of my own. It just happened.

And so I was slowly working my way through writing this post, setting it aside often to tend to family and other obligations, when America experienced yet another atrocious school shooting. I'm sure I'm not the only one that was shocked and horrified, terrified and angry, sad and worried...the list goes on and on, and on. My husband was away from home and text me that there had been another shooting. Until I got that text I was blissfully unaware. In my curiosity I flipped the news on and watched a few short minutes, just long enough to find out the location and that the shooter had not been caught. I turned the TV off again. I didn't want to see it, didn't want to hear it. I couldn't stand to see it played out before my eyes.

And I must admit I did something else too.

I thanked the Lord that none of my family were there. I thought 'but for the grace of God that could be us in that situation'. It was a selfish thought. A selfish reaction. But it was so very heartfelt.

In the moments that passed after that, moments that added up to I don't know how much time, I flipped the news on from time to time. I did not want to see the scenes, did not want to hear the commentary. I just wanted to know if the kids in that school were safe yet and what the death toll was.

That shooting still lingers in my mind and heart. I think of the kids I know that are of the age that they could have been in that school. I think of the days when I was a substitute teacher and how we never had to face those things. It never crossed my mind to even think about such a think happening back then.

And then I thought of the sin that culminated in that horrific act. At first I thought that might be the most horrific outward manifestation of sin...a shooting at a school...but then I knew that to me there was a worse one. Abortion has to top a school shooting, for me anyway. Abortion is the slaughtering of the most innocent of all people. It's the murder of people that can do nothing to protect themselves. And to make it all the worse it is the mother that does it. Oh, she may not wield the knife or inject herself with poisons but she does it just the same.

What kind of sin must it take for a woman to kill her own child?

But is that most horrific example of sin, that total evilness, any worse than any other? Scripture says that if we commit one sin, we commit them all. So if we tell a lie...we have murdered. I will admit that I don't fully understand it all. My human mind cannot fathom the depths to which sin goes. I struggle and stumble through my own thoughts on sin right now. I question and seek.

I saw a question on a reformed site just this morning. Someone had read something by Charles Spurgeon and said they were struggling with it and did not understand. Someone else responded that that was a good thing because in their struggle to understand they would dig deeper, go further, learn more.

Sin is simple.

It is the disobedience of God.

So simple. So easy. So complex. So hard. My human mind relegates sin to evilness. I think of sins like murder, adultery, child abuse, theft... But, it's not that simple. It's all those things and more. All those things and none of them.

It is, simply put, to disobey God. And yet it consumes people until it literally controls them. I saw something the other day, and I can't remember now where I saw it, that said the government wants to put chips in all people's heads to control their every action and thought. I don't know what that was about, I saw it for only moment and paid it almost no attention but I think of it now. If a person had some sort of all controlling chip implanted in them it would override everything else in them until that person was at the mercy of whatever was controlling that chip. Sin is much that way. It is a tiny little thing, deep inside us, and it controls everything. Living and breathing within the human heart like some sort of vicious monster.

At least it does unless we are saved from it.

Only that vicious monster is like a tiny speck. So little, so small. Just the disobedience of God. It's in that small single little thing that it becomes so very huge and evil.

It's easy for everyone to see why murder and stealing is wrong, easy to understand why lying and adultery are wrong...or is it? There are some that see nothing wrong with lying, there was a time that I saw nothing wrong with it. I have a relative that often tells me that I should say or do something that would be a lie and I have to tell this person I do not lie. I have even had this person tell someone else that I would say something even though saying it would be a lie and I had to correct them before this other person. For some reason this relative does not seem to get it that I'm not going to lie, not even a little.

But most people can see the evilness in acts like murder. Some can see it in things like stealing and lying. And many more see nothing wrong with it. Even if they do at first see the problem areas it's a slippery slope because they may think it's wrong to commit adultery but they may see nothing wrong with being attracted to some Hollywood star or musician. They may find nothing wrong with looking at someone with inappropriate thoughts while out in public.

Growing up I was in and out of 'church' buildings. I heard all sorts of rights and wrongs within those so-called holy walls. I was taught to have reverence in the 'church', taught it was God's house. One of the things I was taught in 'church' was that a sin is a sin is a sin. In other words no one sin is greater than any other, yet Scripture tells us that the greatest of commandments is that we love God with all our heart, mind and soul.

So, Scripturally the greatest sin would be to not love God above all else. That's a sin even the elect commit every day. We simply do not have it within our beings to love God all day long, every single day, every second, above all else. It can't be done. But we are told to do it.

What kind of love is required of us? Are we to love God with the kind of love we feel for our spouse and children? An earthly emotional love? Or is it something else?

That's a very good question and a possible topic for another day but for today I have no answer. And for today all I can say is that to sin by not loving God with all of our being for every second of our entire life is a sin that has no outward manifestations. Yes, there will be far reaching consequences for not doing so, even the elect will feel and see them, but there is no easy to see 'he lied' kind of proof.

It is a sin of the heart. A sin that hides so very deep within the soul that only the Lord can truly see it. Even we do not have the ability to fully know to what depths we commit this sin.

And that brings up a whole different side of sin- the soul deep side.

Scripture says, Christ says, that people will call him 'Lord, Lord' and He will say, "depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of inequity'.

Who are these people that will cry out 'Lord, Lord' only to be turned away? Cast aside when the last hope is gone? Christ says they will say, 'didn't we do these things in your name', and yet He will cast them aside anyway.

WHO are they?

They have to be believers. At least to some degree. They will call him "Lord, Lord" and tell Him they did things in His name. So outwardly they must be some kind of believer. Inwardly too. It seems like maybe they will be shocked when Christ turns them away. For that to happen they had to believe themselves to be saved. They had to think they were given salvation. They had to BELIEVE, probably to the depths of their souls that they were regenerate, born again Christians. And Christ will tell them to 'get away from me you workers of inequity'. Oh, the horror that day will bring for anyone that finds themselves in that situation. But Scripture says it will happen.

And why?

What separates us from Christ?

Sin. Sin is the separation between us and our holy God. And it's sin, sin rooted soul deep within us, that divides us from Christ. That then is what will divide the people that cry out 'Lord, Lord'. And yet these people BELIEVE. Their sin in that day of reckoning will be just as great as the murderer.

So sin is obvious-we see it in people like murderers, people that lie, cheat, steal. We hear it in profane words and all sorts of media. But it's also so quiet, so unassuming, so decietful that it hides so far within the souls of people that they can hold a belief in Christ, seeming almost to cling to Him, maybe even die for Him, only to be told, 'I never knew you'.

We are told to make our calling sure, to make our election sure, but how many religious people have tested themselves and believe themselves to be in the faith?

Sin is a horribly, remarkable, horrid thing. It's easy to see in most people but it's no less deadly when it hides so deep within the heart that the very person does not know it's there. It can be so deceitful as to hide under a guise of Christianity.

Life is but a frayed rope dangling us between heaven and hell. One last break of the cords takes the illusion away and sends us plummeting or soaring. We all deserve hell, are all sinners in need of punishment. Only those given grace are saved from the horrors of hell.

And sin...

Sin is an all consuming fire devouring everyone in it's path, everyone that ever lived. Only the elect are saved from it's grip when God's mighty hand snatches them away.

And as huge as that fire is...

It's summed up in the tiny little explanation that sin is quite simply the disobedience of God.