Living A Godly Life

[th1b.taylor]

Recently I came across a conversation on one of the forums I'm a contributing member of about the, infamous Westboro ?Baptist? Church out of Kansas and their presence at this years Super Bowl Game in Dallas and the remarks disturbed me, greatly.




Let me be very clear about where I stand on the matter of Fred Phelps, his daughter and the rest of that assembly. They are calling themselves Baptists but that is not true! There might be a saved member or two in that assembly of human beings but if they are there, as I read the scriptures they are Cardinal Christians that are quenching the Spirit. By me also being human, I am prone to misjudgments, but everything I know and everything I see in the News Media just disturbs me to no end when these people are the subject. They, absolutely, are driven by a spirit but it is not the Holy Spirit that directs them.




Now, please understand, we walk a very fine line in matters of this sort. These folks are not following the LORD, our Lord, and therefore are in sin and we are instructed to hate sin but to love the sinner. (1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1Jn 4:9 Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ASV)




What disturbed me so much was the idea that people I have come to know and accept as brothers and sisters in Christ were finding it to be a good idea if the bus, filled with adults and children would wreck in the ditch as they were in route to Dallas. I would love to see these people come to the Saving Grace that is found in Jesus and that will not happen to some of the kids and adults if they die in a bus wreck. More than once I have prayed for God to place His hand on these people and to turn them back to Himself. (2Pet. 3:9) The principal I'm teaching here is often scoffed at as not being Biblical. The problem with that is the same problem we see with the Rapture, the Trinity and other principals taught in the scriptures.




The simple fact that something is not stated in clear syntax is never a reason to dismiss the teaching off hand. Indeed, that is when we begin to do as the Bereans did, (Acts 17:11,12) and search the scriptures to see if the teaching is true or false. When Jesus, God in the flesh of a man walked the Earth he gave us a tremendous clue to understanding the scriptures, He taught in parables! When His disciples inquired as to why He answered them by teaching them that the parables were for those that had the ears to hear! There is a shocking truth in that statement from God. Those that do not have ears for spiritual matters, simply, will not hear and then when we read John 1:1-3, we find that Jesus is the creator of everything, so Jesus is the author of all of the Bible. Then in Heb. 6:16,17 and in Mal. 3:6 we find that the nature of God is immutable... He never changes!




Like God, we must learn to hate sin and to love sinners, even the worst of them. This is not an option, Jesus/God, has shown us this principal throughout the Old and the New Testaments... it is a command!

 

[timf]

Taking a bus to a big event to seek publicity for your doctrine is an act of the flesh and not of the Spirit. Wishing that those in the bus would have an accident is also a work of the flesh. There have been more serious acts of the flesh like the fight between Lutherans and Catholics that brought the population of Germany from 12 million down to 3 million called the 30 years war.

Jesus warned his disciples of the "leaven" of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians because they were starting down the road of the flesh.

Carnality (the flesh) is the single biggest problem for Christians. It brings the blindness of self-righteousness that is manifest in contempt for others (Luke 18).

It is only overcome by truth and truth can only enter through humility. One way to measure how humble we are is to see how well we respond to any suggestion that we might be doing something wrong.

One example of this is to consider the subject of abortion. Many people see this as wrong. However, some feel that if they define life as starting at birth, they can justify what they see as a "necessary" social remedy to regrettable consequences.

Of those who are against abortion are many who have never had an abortion and feel little sympathy for those who have had one. In this group are many people who use oral contraceptives not knowing that as many as 25-30% of ovulations are not prevented with these drugs. As a result they are having many more "abortions" than those they condemn. This group often becomes very angry at any suggestion of doing "wrong". Humility should lead one to first ask, "Could this be true?"

Others may use a barrier method of birth control and look down on those who have abortions or use oral contraceptives. However, if children are of the Lord, isn't even using a barrier method just another way of telling God, "We have our own plans and don't want you to interfere".

One doesn't have to use the topic of family planning, there are so many other subjects that could work equally as well to measure the degree of worldliness and fleshliness (carnality) in our walk through life that there are ample opportunities for reflection and self-examination.

The reason Christianity is so anemic is that churches find greater success in telling people that they are just fine doing what they are doing than in helping people to see how far short we all fall from the standard of Jesus. Another reason is that self-reflection and self-examination often bring the discomfort of truth and are unwelcome in a society of comfort and prosperity. Truly it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The flesh looks at how bad others are, the Spirit helps us cry out in truth, "God have mercy on me, a sinner".