Looking Right, But SINcerely Wrong

There must be a balance between understanding what God's love means and what our responsibilities are to HIM.  We are living during an age when the Word of God is being preached as a lopsided distortion.  We are living during a time when people are joining the church thinking (because they have been taught this) that God's love will save them - yet there is no conviction of sin within their hearts!

They praise the Lord loud in "church," they shout to others about His love, but they don't say anything about REPENTANCE.  Those in the church speak almost solely about the Goodness of God and constantly use uplifting verses of His Goodness, but they rarely - if ever - teach others of the SEVERITY of God.  The church doesn't teach that there are consequences to disobedience.  Why?  Preachers, teachers, and congregants are afraid of 'running people off.'

News Flash:  If the Truth runs people off, then they are not saved, nor are they interested in enduring in Christ until the end!  

The "church" spends most of its time making those in the seats feel comfortable in their sin.  "Let me congratulate them on this latest sin by telling them how much they are accepted or by 'yukking it up' with them so that they know I am their friend."  This is INSANITY!  The church is confusing people who could possibly come to repentance because the church is afraid to speak the Truth in black and white.  Instead, these people who are already confused are fed gray lies and distortions. Thus, they never truly repent, all the while believing they are saved.  Whose fault is that?

The church has left its first love and spends most of her time focusing on loving others.  But - you see- once a person has left his or her first love of Christ, that person cannot truly love man.  When our love for Christ waxes cold, then any attempt on our part of showing love to others will be distorted, highly emotional, and vain!  It will be pointless!  We better stop convincing ourselves otherwise.  Matthew 24:12, Revelation 2:4, 2:5, Galatians 1:10,

The Lord showed me a few weeks ago that we can't love any one else the way HE defines love unless we FIRST love Him, and loving Him can never ever be separated from OBEYING Him.
John 14:15; 14:21, 1 John 3:18, 1 John 5:2, 1 John 5:3, Psalm 7:11, Matthew 13:49, Matthew 16:4, Matthew 22:18, Acts 8:22, 1 Corinthians 5:13, Romans 9:13, John 9:31

What people perceive as the Fruit of Love has been distorted by our culture and by false churches!  Being nice to someone and trying desperately to keep people in a church building by puffing them up with a lopsided (only the happy Bible verses) Gospel is sending those very same people to eternal damnation!  It is time to wake up Church.  Somewhere along the way, the wolves have crept in and changed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is an urgency right now for the Truth to be preached in the churches.

The Truth:  All people are called to repent and believe. Mark 1:15

One cannot place the cart before the horse and truly believe without having first recognized how evil his heart is and that nothing good emits from a fleshly heart.  Matthew 15:18; 15:19
  Then, man must long for the Lord to deliver him from the misery and wickedness that flows from his heart, mind, and ultimately, his actions.  Man must see himself as filthy and see God as Holy. Every Sunday, millions of congregants walk out of their church building thinking that God's love would never send them to Hell, no matter what sin they practice.  Dangerous & Deadly!

We are living during an age in which people are being taught in churches that vile is acceptable to God.  Here's the Truth:  The Holiness of God will never enter a defiled mind without repentance.  If the Holy Spirit abides within a person, then that person will transform into HIS Holiness.  We better stop pretending that sin is acceptable to God!  The Holy Spirit will quickly make a person aware of what is UNacceptable to Him.  We don't have to sit around wondering if something is right or wrong.  No. The Word of God and His Holy Spirit are there to show and to teach us.  Are you willing to listen and read?

We are seeing preachers and church leaders fall away, but we must understand the "falling away".  They are not physically leaving the church.  They stand up and preach just as they always have, but the MESSAGE IS CHANGING!  Friends, we better wake up and stop sleeping our salvation away.  It is getting so dark, and the Lord teaches us of the coming tribulation and persecution of the Church.  Will you hold on to the Truth - the REAL Truth, not a watered down, highly emotional false gospel?

There will be and currently are highly emotional events surrounding people in these last days.  Are you going to be distracted by those events and those so-called noble causes?   The Lord taught me a valuable lesson regarding that recently. You can read that blog here:  Follow Me.

How many people are being transformed by Jesus Christ?  Really transformed - not just a verbal "I am changed."   Unfortunately, when blessings pour into their lives, they see that as a confirmation that God is okay with the sins they practice, instead of realizing that our love for Him must simultaneously birth disgust for our sin.  John 5:14

After a blessing, a healing, a moment of forgiveness, God wants us to turn even more to Him in gratitude and obedience.  

Just as a marriage between a man and a woman grows as time progresses and the bond between the two strengthens,  our relationship with the Lord must grow as well.  We are to become more obedient to Him.  Our longing to please Him will supersede all else!  It is truly a beautiful covenant between man and His Creator, much like the beautiful covenant between husband & wife.
Ephesians 5:23, 5:24, 5:25, 5:26, 5:27

A few weeks ago, the Lord surely opened my eyes regarding the evil that has crept into the church. Although this church actually exists about an hour from my home, its description, no doubt, matches a description of a church near you as well.

The Church That Looks Right:

• Feeds the Hungry
• Clothes the Homeless
• Houses the Homeless During the Winter
• Cools the Homeless In the Summer
• Has Talented Musicians Who Pour Out Great Emotion  
• Receives Accolades from the Local TV News Station for Their Charitable Deeds
• Is Celebrated in the Local Newspaper, not once, not twice, but multiple times

The Church That Looks Right, But Is SINcerely Wrong:

• Places much faith in the wonderful works listed above but does not realize those good works are as filthy rags to God without repentance and obedience to Christ. Isaiah 64:6
• Refuses to address particular homosexual behavior present within the congregation. Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26, Romans 1:27
• Rarely, if ever, preaches against sin
• Rarely calls those in the congregation to turn from their sin and to Christ
• Thinks 'good works' cover willful sin (Galatians 2:18)
• Believes grace covers practicing sin (Romans 6:1, 6:2)

When I became aware of the accepted sin in this church and how this church attempts to cover the sin, I was reminded of these verses below.  I am afraid many churches will hear this response from Jesus one day.  

Matthew 7:21-24
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Clearly, in the verses above, there are and will be those who believe they are laboring for the Lord when in reality, they are not.  They will perform what appear to be Biblical noble works all the while being disobedient to the Lord God Himself.  In the church detailed above, their noble actions are applauded by the masses, but some of the very ones who are feeding the homeless, etc. are openly and actively engaged in homosexuality.  In one sentence written by their own hand, they are sharing how much the Lord loves us, and in the next, they are applauding themselves for having been in a monogamous homosexual relationship for 11 years.  Do we not see how the love of God has been distorted.  When a sinner hears about the love of God and only this side of God, they believe their sin is ACCEPTABLE in the eyes of God.  We are not doing any sinner a favor when we share a lopsided Gospel.  

When the church does not teach the Goodness & the Severity of God, we are placing the noose around our own necks, so to speak.  Can we not see the writing on the wall?  Hate for the Truth of the Gospel is growing outside of the church, and more devastatingly, hate for the Truth is growing INSIDE the church.  Believers have braced themselves for the coming persecution of professed UNbelievers, but those people really are not the greatest threat.  No.  The greatest threat and greatest persecution will come from the "professed church."  The "professed church" will seek to destroy those who are true followers of Christ.  Be aware of this, or your heart will fail during the coming persecution.

God loved the world so much that He offered Himself as the Saviour of the world.  But - the Gospel does not end there.  Will you accept, follow, obey Him as your Saviour?  Will you turn from your sin and allow Him to do a transforming work IN and THROUGH you?  His Love offers a way of escape, but if a person does not accept and follow Jesus, that person is eternally lost and condemned.

John 3:18, 3:19, 3:20
John 15:10
1 Samuel 15:22

May the Lord be our compass.  

His direction is the Only Way.