...you might just as well be talking to a person's hand.
Sometimes, the clear Word of God is not enough. The Scripture's own vocabulary is not enough. People have been trying to water down the power of God's Word for centuries. They whitewash the commands as if they are invalid. Eve ignored the very words of God in the garden and accepted the cunning twists of logic that the evil serpent used when she gave in to her own desires and willfully disobeyed God. Jesus used the Word of God to rebuke Satan's clever, vain promises in the wilderness.
As the end draws closer and closer to the time when Jesus returns, we will see more and more sin called mistakes, addictions and indiscretions. An affair is adultery, but acceptable. Sex outside of marriage is fornication but promoted with safe sex. Viewing pornography is licentious behavior but acceptable as free speech. Gay folks, homosexuals are sodomites but protected because of sexual preference. Verbal denouncing of God is blasphemy and acceptable because no one can prove He exists. Children are being taught tolerance in school and that God has no place in the life of education, because government condones sin and condemns righteousness. Folks are being sold a bill of goods that every bad behavior we exhibit or sinful action we take is because of something that occurred in our childhood. No one wants to take responsibility for their own actions.
If the world has its way, and the devil gets his way, the world will soon make the word "sin" obsolete. It will have no consequence nor require any reproof or rebuke from the Christian community. The hypocrisy of Christians will be exempt from discussion and the discipline of the church will be unnecessary. In the final anaylysis, preachers might just as well talk to the hands of their congregation because their ears will be unable to hear for the build up of lies from the world.
Some Christians seem to think that just because they've been saved, justified and sanctified by the blood of the Lamb, that their sins are exempt from the corrective discipline of God. I've asked this before, my friends, but it begs asking again, how does God correct you when you've gone astray? By what means? selahV
[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]