Category: sin

Posted in grace, mourn, sin

George Carlin, sin, and Godly sorrow

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a weird coincidence. I queued up the original episode of Saturday Night Live, which debuted in October 1975. As I began to watch, I listened to host George Carlin’s opening monologue. I was thinking I first watched it 38 years ago, and my how the time flies by. I was wondering how many of the cast are dead by now. Just then, Carlin asked,

“Do you ever look at the crowds in old movies and wonder if they’re dead yet?”

Either I should be spooked by the coincidence, or worried that I think like George Carlin. Anyway, here are the ones who are dead:

Dan Aykroyd
Chevy Chase
John Belushi
Jane Curtin
Garrett Morris
Laraine Newman
Gilda Radner

First head writer: Michael O’Donoghue
First musical performer: Billy Preston
First host: George Carlin

Did Carlin ever wonder if someone would wonder that about him?

During the program, Carlin joked about the vagaries of the English language, which was funny. He mocked corporate and government America, which was intellectually provoking. Then of course Carlin landed on Jesus as his main topic of satiric rebuke. He settled in to a riff of disdain for the Savior, so I turned it off.

My mind then went further on the “are they dead now” thought. George Carlin spent a lifetime mocking the only One who could save Him from hell, and hell is surely where Carlin is right now. Carlin is living the ultimate irony. I mourned.

Far from chortling over someone’s eternal destiny, I do cry, lament, become melancholy. The deeper I go into Christ, the deeper the grief over the world and over people who reject eternal life. When I look a them I see walking skeletons. They are dead in their trespasses.

It’s like when you pass an accident by the side of the road. All these lives, millions upon millions of lives are wrecks, and yet I can’t look away. For example, I watched a biopic of Sonny & Cher last night. Sonny Bono was killed in a ski accident in 1998 at the Heavenly Ski Resort. He was an avowed Roman Catholic who dabbled in Scientology. Chances are, though he died in a place called heavenly, he is not there now. While watching the biography movie, that was all I could think about. Except when my thoughts went to Cher, who is living out Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God,” and that her foot shall slide in due time. Then I thought of their child, sweet Chastity Bono, who had a sex change operation and is now a man called Chaz. Yet another grief to lament another lost soul.

The problem is, the whole world is an accident at the side of the road. There is no way to look away. Nowhere to avert one’s eyes so as not to see the carnage. It’s all a wreck.

Though this seems like a downer, and it is really, there is an upside. First, because I don’t think I’m the only one to feel this way. After Newtown School Massacre, I think many Christians were brokenhearted for the world. The act brought us to new levels of grief. One cannot help but think about the effects of the fallen world on unsaved individuals polluted by almost total corruption.

Additionally, as the chasm between sinner and saved grows wider prior to the rapture, and the world comes hurtling toward its prophesied end, many on the side of Jesus feel the weight of loss. John MacArthur spoke of it at a Q & A recently. He said the older he gets, the sadder he gets. This is because the deeper in Christ you go the more vivid sin becomes to us. In his sermon, Satan’s Plan for the Church, he said more,

“The older I get and I’m sure it’s true with you if you think about it, the older I get, the more I realize that the world has fallen. The older I get, I guess the more I realize that basically things are not going to get any better. They continue to get worse. Everything in the world has been touched or tainted, has been marred or scarred by the pervasive power and the presence of sin. And that our entire world and our entire universe and our very culture itself is winding down becomes imminently obvious to anyone who looks. No matter how good, no matter how successful, no matter how prosperous, no matter how happy people might be in any given moment, they’re always on the brink of disaster, always on the brink of destitution, always on the brink of evil, sorrow, failure and such is the nature of life in a fallen world.”

Yes, mourning over sin is a downer, but the upside is that Jesus is gracious. He has anticipated each and every feeling and circumstance humans have or ever will have. He said, in Matthew 5:4,

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

I believe this means those who mourn over sin are blessed.

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

I believe this means the true source of every grief is sin, and so the only comfort in Godly grief is Jesus.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” (John 16:20).

In that verse, Jesus was foretelling His death and resurrection on the cross to His disciples, but I believe we can extrapolate that to a generalized feeling of hope of the future joy He will bring when He finally disposes of all sin and we lay eyes on His resurrected Self.

If you have been mourning over sin, for whatever reason and in whatever form, take heart. Psalm 56:8 says:

“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”

The ancient Greeks and Romans used to actually collect tears of grief and place them into small bottles baked of clay or fashioned out of onyx or agate, and either bury them with the loved one or keep them as a memorial of friendship or love over loss. These bottles were called lacrymatories. When David asks God ‘are they not in your book?’ he knows God has taken an exact account of all the tears shed in relation to His business.

Grief over sin, our own and the world’s, is a weighty thing, but Jesus has the scales in His hand and He knows exactly to the ounce how much we can carry.

Ultimately, each tear shed over sin is a connection to the grace of Jesus. Take comfort in that, my dear brethren. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Posted in God, hell, judgment, paul washer, sin, wrath

God’s holiness and His wrath

Posted on by elizabethprata

“And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3).

Holiness is a quality of perfection, sinlessness, and inability to sin that is possessed by God alone. As Christians we are called to be holy (1 Pet. 1:16). But this does not refer to our nature. Instead, it is a command of our practice and thought. We are to be holy in obedience (1 Pet. 1:15). God has made us holy through his Son Jesus (Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 2:9). (source)

Our LORD is holy. We so often focus these days on His friendship with us, His provision to us, His loving-kindness … that we could always use a refresher on His holiness, I think.

“so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:14)

“Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:35)

Our LORD is holy! How wonderful it must have been to be so overcome with His holiness that they could not even stand!

The flip side of His holiness is His wrath. He is angry over sin. On the day of His wrath, which is His anger over sin released, no one will be able to stand, either. His holy fury will overtake the sinful world.

They were “calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:16-27).

His sinless perfection is offended at putrid sin. The following is a 6-minute sermon jam from Paul Washer on the Wrath of God. Remember, the flip side to His holiness is wrath over sin.

Wrath
“Biblically, wrath is the divine judgment upon sin and sinners. It does not merely mean that it is a casual response by God to ungodliness, but carries the meaning of hatred, revulsion, and indignation. God is by nature love (1 John 4:16), however, in His justice He must punish sin. The punishment is called the wrath of God. It will occur on the final Day of Judgment when those who are unsaved will incur the wrath of God. It is, though, presently being released upon the ungodly (Rom. 1:18-32) in the hardening of their hearts.”

“Wrath is described as God’s anger (Num. 32:10-13), as stored up (Rom. 2:5-8), and as great (Zech. 7:12). The believer’s deliverance from God’s wrath is through the atonement (Rom. 5:8-10). “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Thess. 5:9).” (source)

Praise Lord Jesus that He will accept you if you repent, and you shall be cleansed and redeemed to His bosom. No wrath will be upon you. GO HERE if you want to learn how to be saved from the wrath of God.

Posted in bad things good people, boy hit by train, sin

Teenager hit by train, was texting and listening to music (Bruised Orange)

Posted on by elizabethprata

I was moved by this news today,

Boy, 14, killed by train in Covina apparently while texting, listening to music
“A 14-year-old boy’s life was cut short in a train accident in Covina on Wednesday. Mitchal Sata of Glendora was killed when he was struck by a Metrolink train traveling east along Glendora Avenue at 48 mph in the evening. Investigators said it appears Sata had his headphones in listening to music as he was walking along Glendora Avenue. Tracy Aaron Anderson, Sata’s mother, said a witness told her the boy may have also been texting at the time. “She said that he stopped, hesitated for a moment, then when she looked again he was gone,” Anderson said. “She was on the other side and I assume that’s when he was struck by the train.” Anderson says her son was a good kid with a big heart.”

This unfortunate incident made me think of another long-ago incident that John Prine sang about, in a song called Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow). He sings of an incident that occurred where an altar boy who wasn’t paying attention, was walking along the tracks and was hit by a commuter that was comin’ so slow…

He tells the story behind the song here.

The song deals with senseless tragedy, made all the more bruising when it occurs unexpectedly and worse, upon a child.

We ask, why was a three-year-old mugged in his stroller? The mom who is a witness said the men who tried to take her son’s necklace laughed at her mockingly. She said they would have taken her son just for the necklace if neighbors hadn’t scared them off. Why did a woman break into a house, nail the doors shut and hide in a closet, holding scissors? Police say it is the most bizarre case they have ever seen.

Why are people so broken? Why do these things happen? People have been asking that, and singing about that, since sin began on earth.

We have a hard time understanding why bad things happen to good people.

But is anyone good? No. We might more properly ask why do good things happen to bad people.

Prine sang, “You can gaze out the window get mad and get madder, throw your hands in the air, say ‘What does it matter?’ but it don’t do no good to get angry.”

Why? because “a heart stained in anger grows weak and grows bitter.” The life we have on earth is a hard, awful sinful, broken one. If not in Christ, it is inexplicable that a boy should be hit by a train in broad daylight, in 2010 or in 1977. It seems inexplicable that this would happen or that would happen, but life on earth means sudden tragedy. That’s it. It will happen. Our only hope is in Jesus, who offers a better life.

Our life in Christ is a joy, but even believers moan at the weight of trains barreling down to take a life right in front of us. We can’t let the bitterness overcome us. Each moment on earth is a blessing from Jesus, who allows all life to come and allows all life to go. (Job 1:18; Luke 13:4).

If we ask why bad things happen to good people we might get wrapped up in a chain of sorrow that has no end. If we ask why good things happen to bad people we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, who is the 100% example of all Good, and to whom we belong, and will be living with in eternal joy someday.

If you are not in Christ, these days of sudden tragedy, criminals mocking, bizarre events, and strange intrusions need not trouble you as much as if you are not in Christ. He will accept your repentance of your sins and will open your eyes to the difference between what seeming ‘good’ on earth is and the real good, of heaven and His temple.

Posted in christlikeness, grace, sin

Mortar and Pestle, a match made in heaven

Posted on by elizabethprata

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances. The pestle is a heavy club-shaped object and the mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone. Inside the mortar is a substance to be ground down by the pestle.

I am the mortar. This sinful shell of a body is a vessel. Once, it was a vessel of satan’s, his playground of sin in me. Then Jesus’s grace saved me and He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell this poor vessel. The Spirit aids me in resisting sin, which this poor vessel stillcontains. This mortar still contains the substance of sin. It is unwanted material. 

The Spirit is the Pestle. He is the mechanism that grinds down that sin. (John 16:8). O, Holy Spirit, my Lord, My God! Grind down the sin in me today, crush it into nothing! Please make more room in me for growth in Christ-likeness! (Gal 4:19, Rom 12:2, Phil 2:3-5)

Posted in depravity, grace, sin

So you think you’re a good person headed for heaven?

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is terrible news. I wish I could avoid mentioning it at all costs and in all ways. I had planned to do just that, but the Spirit burdened me otherwise.

I will only specify the news once and I won’t link to it. It is about a South Beach, Miami man found in public cannibalizing a fresh corpse he’d just killed. If I have any of the details of this wrong, I apologize. I haven’t read any of the news articles about it, and only gleaned from the few headlines that inadvertently passed before my eyes as a mistake.

Authorities say he ‘may’ have been in a drug induced psychotic frenzy. I hope so. I would really hate to think that he just did this without the catalyst of mind-altering drugs! What would THAT say about humankind’s potential for evil? This post is about exactly that, man’s potential for evil.

This post is for all the people who say that they don’t need Jesus because you are a good person. No, you’re not. You’re THAT person, the man cannibalizing a corpse. I was that person, but am now saved and my sins forgotten.

‘What?!’ you say, ‘Elizabeth, you’ve gone off your rocker! I never did that to anyone and I never would do that to anyone!!!’ Really? Unless you are saved by grace of Jesus and have the Holy Spirit in you to restrain you from sinning, ALL people have that and more in them. There is no one who is ‘good.’ (Romans 3:10). We are all totally depraved, you see. The depths of sin knows no bounds. It goes deep.

I repeat: there is none good. “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” (Psalm 14:1).

So then you say, “Well, I’m not that bad. I’m not as bad as the guy in South Beach.” You may not be. Now. But you have the capacity.

Do you think the guy in South Beach five years ago woke up and said, “In five years I’m going to strip naked in public and chew a dead guys’ face off”? THAT guy likely never thought he would do the thing he did. None of us do. But then we do.

There are no levels of sin at which a person naturally stops and doesn’t descend any lower. In finance, When things get too crazy and the stock market drops like a rock, they put in place a circuit breaker to stop the frenzy and give everyone a time to cool off so that calm can be restored. They halt trading for different periods of time depending on how fast the levels are dropping. Humans don’t have natural circuit breaker. Therefore anyone who says “I’m a good person. I would never cannibalize a corpse” is lying. (1 John 1:8). You already have it in you to do just that.

Sin is not like a stock market circuit breaker, where a person can halt the slide into lower territory. There is no emergency switch in the elevator of sin that descends a person lower and lower. You can’t wham your palm over the red button and say ‘I’ve gone far enough in my sin, no lower!’

Unless you repent, that is. Jesus IS that emergency button. If you don’t have Jesus in you, there is no hope of resisting sin. Like a stock portfolio, sins’ effects will compound. They will drag a person lower and lower.

Some unsaved people can resist (outward) sin (for a while) and they appear as a good person. It’s like a diet. Some people can resist having cake every time and others can’t. Some people resist outward sin for a long time, years even. But we all sin.

The SoBe man eating the dead man was acting like the beasts do. We are all beasts. “I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 3:18-19). When a right combination of circumstances comes along, sin will eventually catch up to them and they will be dragged off as a gazelle in the mouth of a lion to their doom.

The reason we all have this in us, this capacity to do what the man in SoBe did, is because of total depravity. Alternately called original sin, we all are in this state until or unless we repent. It is the status quo condition of every person on the planet who ever lived (except Adam & Eve originally, and Jesus always).

Noted preacher Charles Spurgeon defined our natural condition this way: “By original sin we mean the evil quality which characterizes man’s natural disposition and will. We call this sin of nature original, because each fallen man is born with it, and because it is the source or origin in each man of his actual transgressions.”

Noted preacher John MacArthur also explains total depravity: “And yet, our verse reminds us that we are so hopelessly and thoroughly wicked that not one of us could ever truly love God unless God Himself enabled us to do so. That is the doctrine of total depravity in a nutshell. It means that we are totally unable to save ourselves. We have a debilitating moral inability that makes our love for Him an utter impossibility until He intervenes to give us the ability to love Him.”

Until and unless we repent, and our sins are forgiven, we are total sin. Paul said, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)

I wonder how we look to Jesus. He has glorified eyes. He knows what is in a man. (John 2:25). I wonder what our sin looks like to him. He loves all people, including those who have so far refused His pardon and are not saved. He sees their sins in them. I’d imagine that sin looks something like this: picture a man, outwardly to us handsome, charming, clean. But to Jesus, he’s covered head to toe in vomit and poo. Dried and crusty, other sections oozing and wet. Out of his mouth comes green pus when he speaks.

EWWWWW! Would you hug a man like that? Of course not. But Jesus did. He walked among us, He ate at our tables, He healed, He touched lepers. (Mark 1:41). Moreover the verse says He was moved with pity. Jesus didn’t look at us and go, “EWWWWW.” He descended from glory and the purity of His holy habitation to walk among people who look like vomit in their sins, loved us, pitied us, and died to save people like us, including the South Beach cannibal.

The SoBe cannibal isn’t even the worst example of a sinner. It will get worse. Sin always gets worse. In the Tribulation sin is allowed its full measure (Gen 15:16; Dan 9:24; 1 Thess 2:16) and there is no Restrainer on earth! (Gen 6:3; 2 Thess 2:7) Sin will flow out unrestrained, and then you shall see how bad people really are!

The uplifting thing is that though the people who remain in their sins will descend deeper and deeper in them, to infinity, Jesus’s holiness is also infinite! His love is infinite! As low as we go, He can reach down and lift us up!! (1 John 1:9)

He came to die for sinners. Before we repent, we all look like that to Jesus. “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) . Now that is a God worth living for. If you repent (ask forgiveness of your sins) He will forgive you and cleanse you of them. He will replace the filthy rags of your deeds (Is 64:6) with a garment of righteousness.

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10)

Posted in lighthouse, prophecy, sin

The sin-storm is crashing over our heads!

Posted on by elizabethprata

The Tribulation is prophesied to be a period where many things will happen. One of them is that the earth and heavens themselves will be wildly disrupted. Landforms disappear. Weather patterns evaporate. Orbits cease. And more.


The outline of what Jesus will be doing at that time is presented to us in Daniel 9:24. The Lord will do 6 things:

“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city,
1. To finish the transgression,
2. To make an end of sins,
3. To make reconciliation for iniquity,
4. To bring in everlasting righteousness,
5. To seal up vision and prophecy,
6. And to anoint the Most Holy.” 

Notice several things. First, it is a period where though the times seem chaotic, it is actually orderly. It is all in control of God. The three series of 7-judgments apiece (Seals, Trumpets, Bowls)  will be delivered in orderly fashion. The judgments unleash chaos, but their deliverance is orderly and controlled. 

Another orderly aspect of the entire period, not just the Tribulation, is that He said it will take 70 weeks (70 bundles of 7 years, called shavua in Hebrew). This it adds up to 490 years total for Him to perform the 6 things. The Tribulation is the time for it all to come to the conclusion and so it is a time of demonstrable wrath. In further orderliness, He stopped the clock at 483 years. Nowhere was it promised to be 490 consecutive years! But they should have known that, because the interruption, too, was stated. In Daniel 9:25-26, a mere verse later, the angel told Daniel that after seven sevens and 62 sevens, Messiah will be cut off (vernacular for died) and the people of the prince who is to come (antichrist) shall destroy the city.

Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem was 483 years to the day and then the clock stopped. Then Jesus took 2000 years to build His church, and when it reaches His quota, (Romans 11:25) then He will finish that last 7 years of the prophesied 70 weeks and accomplish the promised 6 things.

The angel also explained to Daniel that it is a time when God directs His attention to “your people” and “your holy city (Jerusalem). That does not mean He isn’t paying attention to non-believers or non-Jews, and that nothing will happen to them during the Tribulation. Not at all. Jeremiah 30:7 calls it the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, though, and its point is for the LORD to finish His promises to His people. #1 is to finish the transgression, and #2 says He will make an end to sins. This making an end to sins is an even that will affect everyone on the planet. God always sees the world through the lens of His people the Jews and through the central location of the Holy City. But all the world will be affected.

Secondly, note the progression of the 6 things. At the beginning, He allows the transgression to have its full expression. By the end, the Most Holy is anointed. The Most Holy is Jesus. Ahhh, what a day that will be! The Tribulation is the cap-stone to the final age of man where He allows the total outcome of rejection of the Holy Spirit to have its course. Like in Noah’s day, where all of man’s thoughts were only evil continually, (Gen 6:5) so it shall be again at the end of days (Matthew 24:37).

The Daniel 9:26 verse also promises that the end will come like a flood. This does not mean that there will be a flood of actual waters as in the first global judgment. As a judgment, He promised Noah that he would never drown the world again. (Gen 9:13). However, as part of the cataclysmic geo-physical upheavals during the Tribulation there will be floods and tides and hurricanes and tsunamis. However, the verse uses figurative language.The Hebrew word in Dan 9:26 is “sheteph; from shataph; a deluge (literally or figuratively) — flood, outrageous, overflowing.” He means that SIN will have its outrageous overflowing.

This flood language mirrors the language in Revelation 12:15. Midway through the Tribulation, the antichrist tears up the peace treaty he had confirmed with the Jews at the beginning of the Tribulation. He then persecutes them with all unholiness and evil. He goes after the Jews with an evil vengeance that makes the WWII Holocaust look like a picnic. “And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.” Satan pours out his evil and sin flows over the world like a flood.

Floods have waters that rise, and rise and rise, eventually washing away all that is in its path. Even tsunamis which travel at jet speeds have waters that flow and rise accordingly. The end has began when Jesus ascended, but it has been 2000 years and we can see that the flood waters of sin are not lapping at our toes…are not sweeping against our waists…but the flood waters of sin seem like they are actually crashing over our heads. It seems the flood of sin in the world since the beginning is rising and rising, and now even crashing over our heads. It is like the famous photo of the lighthouse and its keeper



But we are not destined for wrath! (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Though sin tries to engulf us, it will not prevail against His church! (Matthew 16:18). Notice where the keeper is: INSIDE the Lighthouse. Would you want to be anywhere else when the wages of sin try to engulf you? No. You would not survive that wave. You would not survive the hidden reefs under the wave. (Jude 1:12) Being in the Lighthouse is the only safe place to be, in ages past and in this present age.

Jude says the apostates are “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” (Jude 1:12).

Peter says, “These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.” (2 Peter 2:17).

Isaiah says, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.” (Isaiah 57:20).

What of us, individually? His word says that Hades will not prevail against His church, but what of each of us in the daily struggle against sin? Here: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).

We are Light keepers, and our job is never more important than during the storm! We are in Christ as THE Light, but we keep His word hidden in our hearts. We are ambassadors of His glory and His truths. We keep His commands. We keep His flame alive on earth by staying In him and close to Him. It is important to be brighter during the storm and so let us be bright, by being full of peace and joy in these stormy times. Let the waves crash! We have the eternal Strength of the Light. Let others see, and come to Him.
Posted in bible, hanging, jesus, prophecy, sin, suicide

RFK Jr’s wife hanged herself- Suicides in general are increasing

Posted on by elizabethprata

There is very sad news. Mary Kennedy, mother of four and estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr, was discovered hanged in an out-building on her property. She had taken her own life. The NY Post has a story here, headline RFK Jr.’s wife hangs herself.

At church last night, it was noted that there had been a suicide in a neighboring county, a mother had killed herself. We shared that it seemed that there had been a run of suicides of late. Suicide is unusual around here.

Then when I got home from church, I had received an email from an online buddy who wrote to let me know of a spate of teen suicides by hanging in the UK. There had been 13 suspected suicides in that town in the last year, and 79 since 2007, all by hanging. There were two hangings just this week. This is truly terrible news. It is always crushing to think of anyone, but especially youths, who are so despondent that they feel their only option is to end their life. Apparently People Magazine did a story on the incidents in this town on May 14, 2012 called “A Tragedy in Wales: A Small Town Mystery.”

I don’t feel it is a coincidence that suicide is rising so quickly at this time. I decided to do some further research. I discovered in an article written a month ago that suicides of Canadian youths between ages 10 and 19 are rising. PRE-teens! Babes! Like this boy in India.

I read in another recent article from a month ago that Asian suicides are skyrocketing, too. “Korea’s suicide rate has skyrocketed since the Asian economic crisis and is now 2.3 times higher than the rate of death from traffic accidents. In the 1990s, about 7.3 people for every 100,000 committed suicide, but that has soared especially among women, the elderly, highly educated people, professionals, and divorcees.”

I read in an article that Army “suicides among U.S. soldiers rose 80 percent from 2004 to 2008, an Army study found.” In a February 2012 article in Medical News today I read this headline about the population in general: Suicide Rates Highest In 15 Years, US.

People, suicides are up. Hanging has a 70% mortality rate and is the preferred method.

Let’s take a biblical and a cultural look at suicide by hanging. In the bible, Judas hanged himself. “Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:3-5)

In the book Comprehensive Textbook of Suicidology, author Ronald W. Maris et al, we read “Judas’s suicide was final proof that he completely rejected God’s grace, whereas the robber that was crucified next to Jesus was redeemed and entered Paradise together with the Savior. God’s mercy is endless to those who are willing to accept it but those who reject it, commit the terrible sin of Desperatio. Hanging was therefore regarded as the most abominable way out, because this type of death left one unable to call out for mercy, because one was choked and unable to express a last-minute repentance.”

Desperatio is a Middle Ages term explained this way (this is a definition that explains their thinking a thousand years ago, not a doctrine I am promoting): “Desperatio (doubt) is a sin against the Holy Spirit. When a sinner recognizes his burden of sin, but it does not draw the right conclusion to repentance, confession and penance, but in despair at the magnitude of his sins, it is called desperatio. The sinner can be saved in spite of his great sins, if he would take the prescribed path of repentance. It remains closed to him so, however, as he thinks, could there be for their sin no more forgiveness. He doubts the grace of God. A prime example of Judas desperatio could be considered: When he realizes what a great sin to be a betrayal of Jesus was, and he hanged himself in despair. If he had done penance instead, he could have been saved.”

Here is a rendition of hanging by the early Middle Ages artist Giotto

Giotto: Desperatio, ca. 1305-1306, “Desperation” or “Despair”.

Note the demon whispering in her ear. Though suicide is recorded in the bible, suicide is never of God. Here is a link to a Bible study asking the question, “Is suicide a sin?” The author begins it this way:

“The Bible records 3 well-known incidents of suicide – King Saul in the Old Testament (some also regard Samson’s death as a suicide, however he was actually a prisoner of war who died in the process of killing 3,000 pagan Philistines), Judas Iscariot in the New Testament, and another that we will get to in a moment. Although the circumstances of Saul and Judas were different, they did have something very much in common. Saul was under the influence of an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:14), and Judas had been directly entered by Satan (John 13:27). And what is the third incident? When Jesus Christ healed a man of demon possession at Gerasenes, He had the demons go out from the man and into a large herd pigs that were grazing nearby (Mark 5:1-12). And what did the pigs do after the demons had entered them? They ran down the bank, into the lake, and drowned themselves (Mark 5:13). With the demons in them, the pigs committed suicide. This is not in any way to suggest that all suicide is demon inspired – it most certainly isn’t. But some clearly are, and of all the rest, Satan and his demons are pleased to see it happen.”

Self mutilation/cutting are also demon inspired. “In the New Testament, cutting oneself was associated with someone who was possessed by demons (Mark 5:2-5). It was characteristic of behavior caused by evil spirits. Today, self-mutilation is rarely used for ritualistic practices or actual demon possession, but instead usually by teen-agers and young adults who have misplaced anger and pain that they are attempting to work out in destructive ways.” (source)

Here are some common suicide risk indicators. If you or a loved one are demonstrating even two of these, please seek help immediately:

Common Suicide Risk Indicators
–A previous suicide attempt, even if it seemed staged or designed to get attention, or boasts of past or secret suicide attempts.
–Talking about being dead or wishing they were dead, how others would be happier if he/she were dead or how much better off others will be when he/she is gone.
–Repeatedly engaging in very risky or dangerous thrill seeking behavior.
–“Getting the house in order” – making plans for the care of loved siblings, parents, relatives or pets and giving away cherished belongings to close friends.
–Extreme mood swings; very depressed episodes followed by happy episodes with no clear reason for the change. –Regular expressions of worthlessness, helplessness, sadness and/or loneliness.
–Drastic changes in habits, friends, or appearance, ie; new friends, skipping school, dropping out of favorite activities, and no longer caring about appearance or cleanliness.
–Changes in weight, sleeping habits, and physical activity. Withdrawing from friends, family, or activities that once gave the person pleasure or a sense of identity.

Here is a link to a checklist of suicide risk behaviors from Air Force Medicine, and on the list is cutting. Please check either link or other good links on the internet if you or a loved one is despondent and talking of ending it all.Precious brethren, suicide is so heartbreaking, and solves nothing. It throws away the precious life that Jesus gave you and it satisfies satan to be successful in pressuring a Christian from the world. It satisfies him even further to send an unsaved person to hell. Jesus loves you with a white hot fervency, he seeks and saves and brings us to His bosom! Nothing is worse than plunging into the gulf that separates us from Him by our own hand, or ending what could be a fulfilling life in Christ by our own hand.

The End Times are here. With apostasy rising and Christianity’s believers moving away from Jesus, and with unbelievers moving further away from offered grace, satan is still and always seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8). Let us all be alert for weakening brethren. Though we can never tell with certainty what is going on in another person’s mind, if you see or hear them demonstrate any of the indicators, you will know that the prayer battle is on. Fight for each other! Pray to the Spirit for help. Jesus heals, completely!

“The LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:1-3).

It seems all too often the spirit if despair is upon us, but the garment of praise is ours to be had, along with the victory- thanks eternally to His sacrifice and His grace.

Posted in end time, homosexuality, sin

Backsliding Baptists muddy waters of gay marriage issue

Posted on by elizabethprata

Dr. David P. Gushee’s bio on Wikipedia states he is an historian, ethicist, public intellectual, and professor dealing primarily with ethical issues and Christian thought. Gushee is the Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University, and was formerly the Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy and the Senior Fellow of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Gushee also serves as the president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, an organization advocating for an end to torture, especially that sponsored by the United States government. Additionally, he is a columnist for Christianity Today and the Associated Baptist Press.

For all that, here is some news about something he said and did recently- this is from the Associated Baptist Press–

Gushee: Covenant best model for sexual relationship
“The co-convener of a conference on sexuality and covenant said April 20 that long-term committed relationships are the best model for Christians struggling to make sense of changing morals about sex.”

Don’t get excited. It sounds good. But it is not good. Read on.

“I believe that covenant is a, if not the, single best way that has emerged in the great Christian tradition to talk about what we are supposed to do with our sexuality, and for that matter, our relationality,” said David Gushee, an ethics professor at Mercer University, co-sponsor with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of the April 19-21 conference at First Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga.”

Still don’t know why I’m disappointed? He hasn’t said MARRIAGE yet. Read on.

“Gushee defined covenant as a “voluntarily entered sacred pact between two persons and between those two persons and the God to whom both are committed.” OH NO! Why, you ask? Because he said ‘two persons’. Not “man and woman.” Read on:

“Gushee said he doesn’t think the main issue facing the church today is which groups of people are to be viewed as eligible to make covenants. “The main issue is to rescue the very practice of covenant before it disappears forever, not only in society but in our own house,” he said.”

BAD BAD BAD. He wants to ‘rescue” covenants (like God needs human help with maintaining covenants) but declines to specify who is eligible to enter them. However the bible is clear on who is eligible to enter the type of covenant he is talking about, marriage. It is a man and a woman. The Bible condemns homosexuality as an immoral and unnatural sin. Leviticus 18:22 identifies homosexual sex as an abomination, a detestable sin. Romans 1:26-27 declares homosexual desires and actions to be shameful, unnatural, lustful, and indecent. Defining “which groups” are eligible to enter sexual covenant is not a necessary endeavor for today’s Christian because it already has been defined for us. All we need to do is proclaim the truth and obey it. Failing that and instead focusing on the covenant and not the people in the covenant is a backwards approach that leaves out Jesus.

First Corinthians 6:9 states that homosexuals are unrighteous and will not inherit the kingdom of God. it stands to reason that a sacred covenental relationship between same genders would be entering a sinful relationship and not approved by God. That Gushee declined to specify that, thereby proclaiming less than the whole counsel of God, is a severe disappointment.

The Baptist Standard covered the conference this way–:

 Christians lack consensus on sexual ethics, speaker tells conference
“Christians no longer share a consensus that sex outside of marriage is always wrong and must find new ways to deal with that reality besides splitting into smaller and smaller groups over issues like homosexuality and contraception, a keynote speaker said April 19 in the opening session of a [Baptist] Conference on Sexuality and Covenant co-sponsored by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mercer University’s Center for Theology and Public Life. … David Gushee, head of Mercer’s Center for Theology and Public Life, said the university was happy to co-sponsor the event because of its long identity as a Baptist institution and interest “in promoting dialogue about an important and sensitive issue that some people would be afraid to host a dialogue about.” Gushee said his center normally deals with public policy issues, but in this case cordoned off that part of the discussion to make it easier to have conversation. He said the conference still could have implications for public policy if it demonstrates that people really can discuss a sensitive issue like sexuality constructively and with respect.”

Here is the perspective on “dialogue”. I’ve always been interested in language, and how language, particularly through media, influences the mind. How it can clarify or obfuscate. The Emergent Church penchant for insisting on ‘respectful dialogue’ is part of the tactic of obfuscation. It brings muddiness to the clarity of scripture and it is simply a defense mechanism for satan to deflect dogmatic truth.

I posted a blog entry a short while ago titled “It’s 2012 and homosexuality is still a sin” as a jab at emergent post-modern culture that says we have to get with the times and dialogue about these points to see whether they are still relevant. I have an answer for you. They are still relevant. End of dialogue.

As a result of my interest in how language is used or misused, the emergent church, and John MacArthur’s solidly biblical sermons, I’ve heard just about everything MacArthur has said or written on the subject. Here is his explanation of the tendency toward dialogue in his essay “The perspicuity of scripture“

He wrote- “A new movement is now arising in evangelical circles. Apparently, the main object of attack will be the perspicuity of Scripture. Influenced by postmodern notions about language, meaning, subjectivity, and truth, many younger evangelicals are questioning whether the Word of God is clear enough to justify certainty or dogmatism on points of doctrine. Ironically, this new movement to a certain extent ignores all the previous debates. Instead, its proponents are more interested in dialogue and conversation. As a result, they scorn and rebuff propositional truth (which tends to end dialogue rather than cultivate it) as an outmoded vestige of twentieth-century modernism.”

He’s right. Proclamation tends to shut them up. There is no debating God.

Peter said that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison, (1 Peter 3:19) and the word preached means proclaimed. The Greek word is kērýssō (“to herald”) and refers to preaching the Gospel as the authoritative (binding) word of God, bringing eternal accountability to all who hear it. (Strong’s Concordance).

Do you really believe that scripture is so unclear about what’s a sin that we need to have endless discussion as to whether marriage is meant for life between a man and a woman under God or can be included to mean two men for whatever period of time as their lust brings them together? If so, do you believe that when Jesus descended to prison to speak with the demon spirits, He said “Let’s promote a dialogue about an important and sensitive issue that some people would be afraid to host a dialogue about. And I promise to be respectful”?? NO. He proclaimed GOD’s RIGHTEOUSNESS. His death & resurrection meant He triumphed over death, over hell and over sin, sin that includes homosexuality!

I’m really disappointed in the Baptist segment of our denomination that is behaving this way. Failing to stand on the word of God as authoritative and binding means one is actually standing on a house of sand. And we all know what happens when the storm comes. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

Note the last line of the parable. “Great was its fall.” The Greek word defines ‘great’ as megas, “large, as in the widest sense.” Jesus is saying that unless you stand on His word as the foundation, your fall will be so great it couldn’t be any greater!

Posted in end of days. prophecy, millennium kingdom, sin

The story of Jesus

Posted on by elizabethprata

This is a blog entry about the big picture. In reading a verse last night and studying about it, it kind of put a punctuation on the last bit of the picture that was unfinished in my mind.

We know that God has a plan. We know it involves sin and redeeming humanity after the Fall from Grace that occurred in the garden. We know that He is alive and working in our lives and on earth. But what is the summary of the plan? Here it is.

God made the universe and He made the earth. He made the creatures and He made man and woman. (Genesis 1-2). He joined them together in marriage and He walked with them in the Garden. (Genesis 3:8).

Adam and Eve had no sin in them and our Holy God had a personal relationship with them up close, because they were holy too.

Then sin was found in them and God cursed them. He cursed the earth, He cursed childbirth and He cursed labor. He cursed satan, who brought the sin. (Genesis 3:14-24).

But God was not finished with man. He maintained His relationship with them, and further, He promised to redeem them by sending a Savior. God said to the serpent that the promised savior will crush the serpent under His heel. (Genesis3:15).

Man’s evil grew worse and worse, until the only righteous man left in the world was Noah, and Noah’s sons and wives. God had promised to redeem man, and though He was grieved He had made man, (Genesis 6:6) He planned to save Noah and his family through the coming judgment.

After the Flood God selected Abraham to begin the process of redemption by building a nation through Abraham. (Genesis 12). The God selected Moses to begin the process of delivering the Law and then He sent the Prophets. The Law stated that a Messiah would come, (Psalm 2:7) and the Prophets were used by God to remind people of that, so they would have faith unto their God and live righteously. (Romans 7:12)

Until the time of Jesus’s physical presence on earth, the Old Testament faithful looked forward to the Messiah, and had faith that He would come. (Isaiah 11:2, Isaiah 61:1)

Then Jesus was born on earth from a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and lived a sinless life on earth. He fulfilled the Law and He fulfilled the wrath of God regarding the sin in the world. (Romans 1:18).

Jesus preached the New Covenant, the one of Grace through faith in Messiah who has come. Jesus overcame sin, healed the sick, made the blind to see, raised the dead, and triumphed over the demons.

When He ascended into heaven after His resurrection, Jesus was still active, just not on earth. The Holy Spirit is on earth, He points to Jesus. Every person who responds to the drawing of the Spirit by repenting is forgiven by Jesus and enters the Kingdom an overcomer (Revelation 3:21, 1 John 5:5). One by one, He redeems humanity and one by one the kingdom enlarges. The believers in this present age of Grace have the bible as their guide for righteous living instead of the Law. But sin is still present on earth.

In Revelation 1-3 we see final warnings had been sent out to the churches, and in Revelation 4 we hear the call to the raptured believers to come up hither, (modeled in Jesus’s call to John) and in Revelation 5 the believers are singing about their salvation through His redeemed blood. (No other group can say that about their salvation). In Revelation 5:2-5 John records,  “And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

In verse 1 it says the scroll has writing on both sides. This meant it was a legal document. The next moment in Revelation is one of the most momentous in all of the bible. “Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” (Rev 5:7).

It is this moment that Jesus takes the scroll, which is a title deed to the earth, and He begins His next and most active phase of taking earth and all its contents back from sin. He begins the process of crushing the rebellion. He starts judging earth and opposing satan through those judgments. He starts the wheels turning to an even greater degree of putting down the last enemies. (which are sin and death.)

Revelation 6 opens with the unleashing of the first Four Horseemen. The rest of Revelation through chapter 19 shows Jesus taking it back through His successive judgments. He is putting down the rebellions, one after another. Then the 1000 year Kingdom comes, known as the Millennial Kingdom, and even then, Jesus is still in process of taking earth back and putting down rebellions. He takes back kingdoms. He establishes His authority on earth. He rules with an iron rod. If all was perfectly peaceful He would not need to rule with an iron rod. (Psalm 2:8-12). Rebellion still exists.

At the end of the 1000 years, satan is let out of the abyss where he has been locked up. He deceives the nations once again, and a great army marches against Jerusalem. But fire comes down and smites them all. Satan is thrown into the lake of fire.

In Revelation 20 a final judgment takes place. When that is concluded, in verse 14 we see death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire. That is the last enemy! Sin has been put down! Sinners have been judged!. Death and hell are in the lake of fire with the antichrist, false prophet and satan!

Jesus has accomplished His mission for the Father! All sin, all governments, all kingdoms, any and all other authority except the authority of Jesus Christ the Holy Messiah are gone. Jesus reigns supreme!!

And then do you know what happens? Jesus gives it all back to the Father.

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Jesus had been given charge of redeeming humanity and redeeming the earth. He was given charge to make an end to sin. He was given charge to take the earth back under His authority. ALL authority had been given to Jesus throughout all this time. (Matthew 28:18). And He accomplishes that, and in a holy act of humility He bows down and gives it all back to God.

God once again is all in all. God once again presides over a pure and holy creation.

“In the beginning…”
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Posted in forgiveness, gay, homosexuality, lesbian, sin

It’s 2012 and homosexuality is still a sin

Posted on by elizabethprata

Culture and Godliness are anathema. We do not belong to the world. “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. (John 15:19). What God wants for His people and what the World wants for its people are distinct opposites. Just remember the scene from the Garden in Genesis 2 between the serpent, Eve, and Adam. So as we approach the end, we are reminded of Jesus’ words about the state of the culture at the time He calls an end to sin and He intervenes personally and visibly. These are known as the Days of Noah and the Days of Lot:

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.” Luke 17:26

The Days of Noah were described in Genesis 6:5: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

Jesus also went on in Luke to say that despite the wickedness people would still be doing normal things and thinking these were normal times, just as those in Sodom did when Lot was called out if the city by the angel. “People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.” Luke 17:27-28.

As for Days of Lot, you remember that Lot hailed from Sodom, a most wicked city. That city was destroyed because of its sins, homosexuality being chief. Homosexuality is a judgment upon a progressively disobedient culture. (Romans 1:18-26 describes the effects of unbelief and its consequences)

Matthew 10:15 reminds us that the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah are still to come. ” tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” The cities themselves have been erased from earthly physicality but their sins have not been dealt with. They will be. And this is a reminder that they serve as an example to any nation who promotes, tolerates, accepts homosexuality (and any sin) to the degree that those two cities did. (Jude 1:7- “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”). In other words, Sodom is gone but not forgotten by God. And Sodom is gone but should not be forgotten by us.

Please keep those verses in mind as you read the following news excerpts from this week…

Why gay people make the best parents
“But research on families headed by gays and lesbians doesn’t back up these dire assertions. In fact, in some ways, gay parents may bring talents to the table that straight parents don’t. Gay parents “tend to be more motivated, more committed than heterosexual parents on average, because they chose to be parents,” said Abbie Goldberg, a psychologist at Clark University in Massachusetts who researches gay and lesbian parenting. Gays and lesbians rarely become parents by accident, compared with an almost 50 percent accidental pregnancy rate among heterosexuals, Goldberg said. “That translates to greater commitment on average and more involvement.” And while research indicates that kids of gay parents show few differences in achievement, mental health, social functioning and other measures, these kids may have the advantage of open-mindedness, tolerance and role models for equitable relationships, according to some research. Not only that, but gays and lesbians are likely to provide homes for difficult-to-place children in the foster system, studies show.”

Indiana unveils its first license plate for gay youths
“Indiana’s first specialty license plate that benefits gay causes is now available for purchase. Bureau of Motor Vehicles spokesman Graig Lubsen said the Indiana Youth Group plate has been available since Dec. 28. The plate bears a logo with hands in rainbow colors reaching up. Some $25 from sales of each $40 plate goes to the group serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The Indianapolis-based organization operates an activity center, helps develop Gay Straight Alliances in high schools and assists communities in forming youth services. The group serves about 1,400 youths and young adults ages 12 to 21, The Indianapolis Star reports in a Wednesday story. She said Indiana is the second state in the nation with a specialty plate benefiting gay youths. Maryland was the first, she said.”

Gay marriage gaining momentum in WA Legislature
“The last time same-sex marriage was debated in the Washington state Legislature, lawmakers voted to ban it. Fourteen years later, the issue is before the Legislature once again after a multiyear effort that has incrementally increased rights to gay and lesbian couples in the state. And this time around, it looks like Washington could very well become the seventh state plus the District of Columbia to legalize same-sex marriage.”

Rumor of the day: Obama to endorse gay marriage in State of the Union Address this week
White House won’t rule it out
“White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Friday he wouldn’t rule “in or out” the possibility of President Obama endorsing same-sex marriage in the upcoming State of the Union address. Carney made the remarks on whether Obama would announce support for marriage equality during the State of the Union address, which is set to take place Tuesday before a joint session of Congress, in response to a question from the Washington Blade.”

I’ve said before that governmental promotion of homosexuality will bring judgment upon the nation.

Whenever the Bible mentions marriage, it is between a male and a female. The first mention of marriage is in Genesis 2:22-24 shows the God-ordained model for marriage:

“The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

In passages that contain instructions regarding marriage, such as 1 Corinthians 7:2-16 and Ephesians 5:23-33, the Bible clearly identifies marriage as being between a man and a woman. Biblically speaking, marriage is the lifetime union of a man and a woman, primarily for the purpose of building a family and providing a stable environment for that family. (more here).

That we are seeing such acceptance of homosexuality, transgenderism, lesbianism, and perverted lifestyles, is not just a symptom of the state of our culture, it is a judgment.

God in His mercy will forgive any penitent person when they appeal to God. If you are in a lifestyle that you know deep down is harming you, failing to bring fulfillment, and you want out, then throw yourself on the mercy of Jesus, who forgave your sins at the cross. He will forgive, then He will send the Spirit to help you resist the devil, and the devil will flee from you. (James 4:7).

If you are in one of these lifestyles and you do NOT feel it is harming you, if you think it IS bringing you fulfillment, then I submit that you are in deep danger of missing out on the universe’s greatest blessing, the blessing that comes after repentance and forgiveness by Jesus, His bringing you into the very family of God. Stop now and pray to Him before your heart becomes even more hardened to the soft influence of conscience, which is the Spirit telling you Jesus is near. Because once He gives you over to your desires, that’s it. (Romans 1:24)

If you are in a family where you are devastated to have a beloved family member involved in one of these lifestyles, then keep praying, pray! Jesus is bigger than any sin, and He hears the prayers of the righteous.
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