The devil can get into your mind as God can. He talked with Eve as did God. Eve had a choice a choice to make as we do today. A choice between good and evil. She suffered for it and mankind in general did. Man could no longer fellowship with God until Jesus Christ came to take away the sins of Adam and Eve. The blood of bulls and goats could not take away our sins. It took a sinless man and there was not a sinless man upon the earth. Jesus was that sinless sacrificial lamb that had to be sacrificed for our sins and included the sins of Adam and Eve. He is our mediator between God and man for sins we commit daily. Paul said I die daily. People that talk about others in the church are talking about and judging another man's servant. The Devil is our enemy. He comes at us in many different ways. Using new forms of technology by his servants. The bible speaks of an explosion of knowledge in the last days and the devil will use through those that work for him. There is no middle ground. The bible says choice this day whom you will serve. There were only 2 choices.
I agree with all you said except the judge not another mans servant part...
to the point, the servant may be deceived by the other man, pulling them from that, with trembling is what Jude said to do..Peter said to warn them if sin continues, for they trample on the blood of Christ in so doing...
the church IS to call out that which is false, and expose false brethren, and to hate false doctrine. Both Paul and Jesus commended them for doing that...not to be hurtful, but to wake up those being led off to a different gospel.
rememeber gospel means GOOD NEWS. But it is NOT good news, if it leads one to a false gospel that contains damnable heresies. then it is ANYTHING BUT good news. IT IS DECEPTION....for those who want their ears tickled, pleanty of messengers exist.
At one time, when trying to reach a Jehovah's witness.....(they don't believe in the deity of Jesus)
one of them had no answers...when I gave them the ten salient scriptures that point to Christ's deity they were stumped
so they accused me,, well, you are judging, and that's not a spirit of love.
"Love", I answered, "if I leave you in a deception and do not try to reason with you, THEN I have no love...
If I'm standing here, barefoot and freezing, trying to get you to think....could it possibly be the more loving thing...than to leave you in your deception?
would you not want to help someone you saw run over in the road? Well run over in the spirit is what false teachings are....I'm reasoning with you from the scriptures, which of them do you pronounce false?"
(they had no comeback, and sent the elders twice, whom I reasoned with for hours. God, is GOOD.
the ecumenicism crowd wants us to keep our mouths shut...while they lead others to false gospel teachings...
but, is that what Jesus said to do?? How much leaven before the whole lump will rise?
a tiny tiny bit is the answer.
or why did Paul say to Peter "you are divorcing yourself from God (apostate)"on but ONE teaching Paul said this.
If Peter could fall from grace for one wrong idea....should we not be wary, on our guard?
why even correct anyone on anything? If don't judge is not understood correctly, that's where we end up.
best then to keep the mouth shut tight always.
I'll tell you why NOt, why that is NOT the truth,, because otherwise it will lead to perdition...
or they may be saved in the end...but they will have no oil in their lamps when they should..
maybe they'll make it in the end...and walk up to us and say...thanks for not warning me..
the 5 foolish brides were not prepared......that parable indicates that HALF the people that should be ready to go to the wedding, the marriage feast of the LAMB, (meaning believers)(those that had been invited to the feast, and had on their wedding garments) is a metaphor for a true believer....but.....they will not be ready.
No oil in the lamp is code for no spirit, no Word, no understanding, no girded up in the truth, not walking in the spirit and not ready as a result of their lazy underprepared choices...
well, that may be the case that after going thru the tribulation they'll make it..., but how will one feel if one never tried to tell anyone when they were in error...never tried to help them grow up in Christ.
when you knew the truth, and didn't share it...
"to he that knows what to do (or say) and does not do it, to him this is sin".
"but how shall they know without a teacher, how shall they find out without a preacher"
"I commend you, that you have ferreted out the false brethren, and exposed them" who said that?
"this I love, that you hate the doctrines of the nicolaitins, which I also hate".
nicolaitans taught that sexual sin wasn't so bad.
today, one church says, its ok to be a sodomite if you do not act on it. catholics.
Jesus says, if you lust in your heart/mind. you have commited the sin. So its NOT OK.
By Jesus words, you are still DOING it in your mind means...you are still DOING it. still in the sin state.
to really repent you must allow the Lord to remove the desire and even the THOUGHTS of that nature.
otherwise its not stopping the sin at all. A true turning to God allows the heart to be circumsized Paul said, to have the dirt collector cut away from the inside. Circumsision on the outside, Paul said, was to show us a picture of what He wanted to do WITHIN us, in our hearts...to truly purify us by His Holy Spirit removing the offensivness.
This is only possible where true faith, having been born again, (which means born from above, born of God's Spirit) has occured...then the mind and heart are willing and desiring of holiness...until that happens, its just religion. religion was not what God wanted from us...He wanted a relationship with us...and for us to be intimately connected to Him, from stem to stern. That why HE must give one a NEW BIRTH.
If a church teaches you it ok to be a sodomite in your heart, just don't insert the member... foof
it is a false church teaching another gospel, NOT the one Jesus taught.
ASK:was a prophet ever warned:
If we do not warn them, God says, the blood will be on our hands.
ASK: was a prophet ever swallowed by a fish, to be spit up on the shore of the people he did not want to warn?
Blood ON our hands. Tree drying up, no more shade...for whom...for those that refused THEIR DUTY.
why, because God loves them, and wants them saved far more than we do, that's why.
ergo, I will die on this hill.
Judge not means you are not the final arbiter of where anyone will spend eternity, God is.
it does not mean we can not access behaviors and call sins sins.
The fruit of the spirit is what?? And can we access the tree by its fruit based upon that?
Does a church going sodomite not know the scripture say they will inherit hell?
Yet now some churches want to ignore this.....and not warn them.
and the so-called christian sodomite...is he not helping that other "lover person" become fit for hell?
How then does one say they serve the God of Love, when they are making the person they claim to love fit for hell? How is that love? "I love you, here let me make sure you are rejected by God?" really??
In fact we are told to LOOK at the fruit, and to say when its rotten....
otherwise why would we even say a word...that child rape is bad, the murder is bad...why even say that.
yes indeedy, and now we have states like CA saying THAT is correct thinking....none of it is bad...lets not judge.
Of course the six year old just raped by the 16 yr old football guy might beg to differ...but who are we to judge, or to punish.
the truth is, its the DEVIL who wants us to hush and not say a word....because them folks will never come under conviction.....
did Jesus do that? Or did He call them liars, hypocrits, and sinners, vipers? seems to me He had plenty to say to some people..
PLENTY. It's time the church grew up, put on their big boy pants, and stopped worrying about what people think.
we should worry a little more about what God thinks of us than what people think or say.
we should tremble, if we take our own thoughts on a subject as more agreeable than what God's thoguht on a subject are.
lest we forget, even the demons believe in God, they believe, AND they tremble.
at least THEY have the good sense to do THAT.
Pauls Lament....you should be ready for the deep things of God, the MEAT in the Word, but you are still sucklings drinking only milk....
This is where much of christendom is and remains....never getting serious about what this world is about.
this is a warzone, where the souls of men are fought over.....and where there are few warriors on the battlefield, few harvesters for overripe fields.
this is also a training ground for how we will behave in heaven, in eternity.
for my money, that means the marines have it right...leave no man behind. It means ask God to put a coal on our tongues, and look not at their faces....seek to please Him, and care for souls, not personalities.
Do not be a respector of persons, it's fear of rejection at the heart of why some never speak up.
Now more than ever we need to renounce that fear.
if the early church had given in to that....none of us would be here now.
God help us if we do not all grow up, and soon. Lordie, Please Help us. Amen.