Posted on 02/20/2024 6:20:07 PM PST by ducttape45
Don't forget what came BEFORE that.
2nd Chronicles 7:11-13, "Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected. And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
Folks always post verse 14, but neglect what came before it. The basics of that entire passage is that if the people repent after God sends the judgment, He'll hear and forgive.
As I understand chapter 7, it is God's message to Solomon, who built the temple, that He would make his home in the temple and that if God's covenant with the people was broken, He would bring about destruction -- but if the "people" ....turn from their wicked ways he would "heal their land."
We were blessed by God when we began this country. and now we've broken the covenant like the Jews did so many times in their history.
I sure don't see any signs of "turning from our wicked way." Do you? If you believe in God's word it should be clear what comes next.
Oh trust me, I know what's coming next. Overall, national destruction. Exactly what form that takes is anyone's guess, but me, I believe the major fault lines in the USA will erupt all at once thereby physically destroying it. The San Andreas, the New Madrid, the East Coast fault lines will all go. The Yellowstone Cauldara and the Cascadia subduction zone will go off as well. Everyone will be affected. I suspect this will coincide with the sixth seal in Revelation Chapter 6.
Revelation 6:12-17, "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
Most of the people producing our culture oppose God, Christ, and the Bible.
Yet, while Christians all over the world, and from the early church on, have suffered persecution, many Christians here have gone with the world.
Entertainment isn’t “food.” People justify it on the grounds that we shouldn’t be judged by the “meat” we eat. Yet is it harder to go 30 days without eating, or without TV.
There is reason for mature Christians to be mixed up with the culture — in order to expose it, with love. That is actually caring about the people producing it, too. For example, the “movie stars” and “rock stars”. Will God care and be impressed that they were “successful” in this life, despite their promotion of a Godless and usually God-despising worldview?
It is very hard and getting harder to be a Christian these days, but the place to start is with the easy things, according to God’s Word. And taking it seriously. The New Testament especially. Where we need work and help, we need to allow God to make those changes in us, and that starts with accepting what His Word means, not twisting it, and allowing Him to upset and trouble us with it, in ourselves and in those around us. Ezekiel 9 is instructive. God spared those who mourned over the sin in Israel.
Yes - God’s laws are for our own good. Like an owner’s manual of the earth and life. He gave us the 10 Commandments after the Exodus, so that we could live in freedom, and not live in slavery to sin.
And too, in Ezekiel 9, judgment began at the house of God.
Through Christ, working along with God, Christians are able to make new things, though it’s actually God doing the work. Today, though, so much of the church here merely denounces the evil being done, and condemns those chiefly doing it, while also partaking pretty much fully with the culture without real concern for, say, the people in power, and the producing the entertainment, and liberals defying God — although, among them, there is a remnant. When God asks why they went along as much as they did, will they say, “Because entertainment is essential”?
Serving as a bridge to the world, I think it’s possible to have a sampling of the world’s entertainment. I don’t listen to secular music, but I will while in the stores, and occasionally revisit some old songs, but very quickly, they become stale to me. And on pro football, for instance, years ago, while wondering how to live in this world as a Christian, the Lord led me to tithe part of a football game of my hometown team — 6 game minutes, or about 15 minutes or so. I read the Bible and prayed instead. And that broke the hold it had on me. I rarely watch, and when they lose the “big games,” it doesn’t bother me a bit. I still keep up on how they’re doing, though. I’m not indifferent. But it stopped being religion to me, and God brought me to a much better place, seeing sports from a better perspective as the world gets ever more carried away by them
THE GREAT COMMISSION.
If you really believe that God has saved you from a horrible eternal fate, and done so out of His mercy, not your own merit, and HIS WILL for you after that is for you to then help Him, according to desired will for you, in saving others from that fate, and if you believe He has saved you for a wonderful, blissful life after this one, then you will live and allow Him to remake your life accordingly, allowing Him to get more and more control of your life, as Lord, while You work with Him in fellowship. True trust in Him grows more difficult as the world’s power to offer worldliness grows, but He can build that faith in people, if they go to Him troubled about sin, their own and others, and wanting His help, and wanting to do their part in the Great Commission.
And too, as my tagline says, “Willing to die for Christ, if it’s His will.”
Every professing Christian should consider those words, and where their hearts are with them.
If those words, or any in the Bible, especially the New Testament, trouble you, then that is a problem, but a problem that is also a challenge, and an opportunity for God to come into your life in a place where He needs to work with you and on you. He will provide the strength and His presence there, bringing something new, as only as He can, into your life.
My tagline says, “Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
exactly. that would be the Christian version of the golden rule (quoting from memory): “Love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. And like unto it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
and that is the key tenet of Christianity that the Founder’s assumed when they designed our system of limited gov’t. without it, it cannot stand. that is what brother James calls the ‘perfect law of liberty.’
My understanding of morality is that it was living according to GOD’S rules and precepts. He is the standard for what is right and living according to His standards results in moral (right) behavior.
Now, of course, living that way does absolutely result in putting the well being of others on par with, or even above, ourselves. So the actual outworking remains the same.
yes agreed as a general matter. but, imho, there’s one critical difference between a believer in Jesus and a non-believer. that of freewill, that is, real liberty or freedom to choose and conform one’s actions to Will of God. the Christian’s acts are entirely voluntary. thus, when a Christian loves his or her enemy (often to his own detriment), it is entirely voluntary. when a non-Christian does a good or right thing (with the appearance of love), it’s because it’s coerced by the state, secular authority, culture or perhaps some other threat, real or imagined. he does ‘right’ because the circumstances or his religion, peers or ideology allows it. when he does wrong, he thinks and justifies it because he believes he had no other choice.
Noah Webster’s definitions are often useful:
Morality: ‘The quality of an action which renders it good; the conformity of an act to the divine law, or to the principles of rectitude. This conformity implies that the act must be performed by a free agent, and from a motive of obedience to the divine will. This is the strict theological and scriptural sense of morality But we often apply the word to actions which accord with justice and human laws, without reference to the motives form which they proceed.’
Interesting.
Thanks for posting that.
Amen!
And with so much of it, you need to look first at the Book of Revelation. Clearly, “advanced” technology has actually led to spiritual and moral regression in large part, and actually empowered spiritual wickedness in the spiritual realm, particularly the devil. It has been in God’s plan for the End Times, of course — Daniel speaks of when “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,” (Daniel 12:4). Humans of course play their parts, including whoever will be the human Beast and False Prophet, but I don’t at all think even the “elites” are truly in control as much as it seems.
A telling symbol is the “mystery” of the nuclear, that the Lord revealed in the 20th Century. Unsuspected until then, there is such power, and such destructive power, in the very elements that make up this world, and its a reflection on man’s thirst for godlike power and our rebellion against God bringing us self-destruction. Coincident with the development of nuclear technology has been modern man’s vast apostasy against God.
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