Jesus said, “…If ye continue in my word, then are ye
my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth will set
you free.” (John 8: 31, 32)
Why do I write?
It’s not because I am suffering under any delusion that I have some
great talent or genius for being a prominent and renowned author. I believe it stems from a desire to think
things out to gain a greater understanding.
More often than not, it proceeds out of an attempt to try to look at an
issue from God’s point of view, instead of letting my own intellect and
opinions hold prominence over what I believe or don’t believe. It’s easy to go along with the flow of the
crowd, and just accept what the society at large might be thinking at any given
time. It’s much harder to seek out what
God says and thinks about something, and hold strong to it no matter what is
deemed good and right in the eyes of mankind.
So again I ask myself, why do I write, especially in these latter days
of my life, when it would be so much easier to keep my thoughts and inquiries
into the truth of God’s word private, maintain silence, and never share the
results of any of my quests for truth?
The answer to my question probably has many parts to
it. First, I think my writing began as a
personal journey to draw closer to God, wanting to understand and know Him more. I believe it’s in response to His all
encompassing love that He has poured out towards me personally and to my loved
ones. It’s a part of an increasing
desire to love Him back. Secondly, it
evolved as an effort to try to reach my own family members and others I hold
dear, to encourage them to begin or continue their own journey of growing in
the Lord. My husband and I had been
studying and writing for some time, sending our writings out in email form to
share with others. Finally, the Lord
eventually led us to establish a website whereby we might be used of the Lord
in order to reach out into the world at large. It is our ministry unto the Lord
to help spread the good news of the Gospel.
Hopefully, we may be used of the Lord to touch lives and help others become
rooted and grounded in the Word of God. (Thespiritsnestministry.com is our
website)
That being said, I turn to the issue that I have been
contemplating for some time. It’s not a
comfortable topic that I relish delving into, but then some things have to be
confronted whether we like it or not. In
general, it’s the topic of sin, specifically sexual immorality. Why?
It’s not that it is some new thing that has popped up to invade and
disturb our lives. Rather, it has become
one of those ‘problems’ that expands and multiplies itself as we get farther
and farther away from the influence of God and His Word. In these latter years, it has become so
pervasive that it is no longer one of those worldly issues that can just be
ignored because it doesn’t really touch the body of believers. Christians are often wrapped in their own
delusion that somehow we live out our lives untouched by the ravages of any ‘great
sins,’ as if sin has been given some kind of classification from the least
offensive to the most offensive. Let me
present one of several scriptures that speaks directly to the subject of sexual
immorality. We will read and reflect
back to this more than once as we continue on this journey of seeking to
understand God’s truths. “Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God kingdom of God
Our mind has been desensitized so much that it seems we
have come to believe that some sins are just ‘little’ sins; therefore, making
them more acceptable than others. It’s
as though we think God has all of a sudden developed this little ‘wink’
trick. You know, like when we tell a
‘little white lie’ and then our heart doesn’t seem to convict us. Ahh, our
heart tells us, “Poof, just like that, lying isn’t really a sin anymore.” And
as for God, well maybe He is agreeing with us as He just winks at it, and lets
us get away with it without any remorse, or any thought of our need to confess
it as sin and ask for His forgiveness.
Well, that’s not what it says in the word; in fact, it says that liars
may not enter the kingdom
of Heaven
God’s word gives us the example of how bread which, having
even a little bit of yeast in it, will affect the whole loaf. If I allow even a little sin to go unchecked,
my whole life will be affected. Not
confessing sin and asking for God’s forgiveness may result in that sin setting
up permanent residence in my life. My sin is going to affect my entire life,
and possibly the lives of my loved ones.
As long as we are in a human body, we will struggle against sin. That’s part of what it means when God says
that we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and
principalities of the darkness of this world.
Our flesh would tell us to do one thing while the Holy Spirit tells us
to refrain from going down the path that leads only to spiritual death and
destruction. When we let sin go unchecked it is going to grieve the Holy Spirit
and affect our daily fellowship and walk with the Lord. It could have the effect of dulling our
spiritual ears to the point that we can no longer hear His voice calling to
correct us and warn us of impending danger.
Before you know it, we may not be telling just a little white lie, but
we have become so friendly with the sin of lying that it starts to grow roots. Lying then doesn’t just put down roots in the
fertile soil it has found in my heart, but it begins to feel so comfortable and
decides to claim my heart as its permanent home. Next, Mr. Lie decides to
invite a whole host of friends to come in and join him in his new abode. I then find that I am no longer satisfied
with telling a little lie now and then. Instead, I find it necessary to
practice it to the point that lying becomes a part of my nature, a regular
habit, no longer alien to me, but a welcomed part of my life. I no longer recognize it as sin, but may even
think of it as a dear friend. My
favorite sin has become good and acceptable in my own sight. I have not only accepted its existence, but I
have condoned its presence as a good addition.
Now I have begun to call evil good and good evil. I have lost my ability to discern good from
evil. Can we not see what it means that
the heart is a deceitful thing? The
heart, apart from God, is easily deceived, opening the door to the broad path
that leads to death and destruction. A
little bit of leaven spoils the whole loaf.
The individual believer and the entire body of Christ, the
church, are playing right into the plans of Satan to allow him to destroy us
from within. We don’t need to worry
about being attacked by the world, we are doing a pretty good job of giving
place to the devil for him and his demons to set up house keeping and claim us
as his territory. We have become so
complacent and apathetic that we no longer do our own house keeping. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me,
and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in
the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139: 33, 34)
We no longer want to be the watchman that is willing to speak correction
and truth to a friend, as well as receive it ourselves, even if it hurts. O no, we accuse others of being self
righteous and shout ‘judge not lest ye be judged!’ We prefer to hear lying lips
that are willing to flatter us. Look at
what has happened to us. The flood gates have been opened. The Word of God has been so watered down,
picked apart, perverted, neglected, and deleted until it no longer is held up
as our standard of true right and wrong.
Instead, it has become popular to teach that there are many paths to
God. One may follow a blue light while another may follow a red light, but whether
red or blue, both are deemed right and will lead all to the same point of destination.
No hell for any, all go to Heaven whether they believe or not in the Cross of
Jesus and Him alone. We fall, hook, line, and sinker for every feel good
teaching that comes down the pike. Oh
the web of deception that we do weave.
How on earth do we expect others to see Christ in us as a
body? In the world, it might be
acceptable for abortions on demand to occur, for couples to live together out
of wedlock, for babies to be born to single mothers, for marriage between
persons of the same sex to be not only acceptable but condoned as good, and so on
and so on. Not too long ago even the
world disdained these things and deemed them to be wrong and unacceptable. However, today, within the church itself,
these things are not just tolerated but deemed as acceptable and condoned as
equally right for it is all seen as just being different life styles.
What lies at the root of this destruction and decadence
from within? We Christians have no one
to blame but ourselves. The single woman
walks into the congregation accompanied by her partner of choice- a married man. This woman is not just a visitor who may not
be expected to know that this is not pleasing to the Lord. No, she is well versed in the scriptures and
what God says about such practices. Week
after week, she and her partner are welcomed to come in and worship as a part
of that local body of believers. Out of
love and concern for her spiritual well being, does the pastor, or anyone else
for that matter, approach her to confront her with the sin that she is
flaunting. I don’t mean that this should
be done with an accusatory and judgmental finger in her face and shoved down
her throat, but rather an opportunity to reach her in love to open her heart to
receive correction. Where are the pastors or spiritual leaders who are willing
to give instruction that she may have the chance to correct her ways, before
she has to pay a price that could forever alter and change her life, turning
her away from all the good that God has purposed and planned for her? We are all going to fall short of the mark,
and we are all in need of our pastors and each other to support and encourage
one another to stay on the straight and narrow path instead of going down the
broad path that can only lead to destruction.
No, our pastors and leaders too have turned aside from administering the
truth in power and in love.
I once taught at a Christian school in which one of the
priests held the position of Headmaster.
Everyone and I mean everyone, loved, respected, and looked up to this
man. I was only there for two years, but
I still cherish the time I was privileged to teach there. However, some years later, I was informed
that this man of God was a pedophile, and had been molesting several of the
boys over the years. That is not the
worst of it. There were those in
leadership positions that had known about his sin problem for several years
before he was exposed and sent to prison for his crimes. His own wife was the one who finally
discovered what had been happening and turned him in. My point is that not one person in that body
had courage enough or love enough to go to the man and confront him with his sin. Maybe if they had, he might have been
snatched out of the grips of his sin in the early stages when he may have had a
chance to be helped, and before he had destroyed his own life and the lives of
so many others. Instead, those who
professed to love both Christ and this man, smiled to his face and told him
flattering lies, all the while knowing the degradation of the sin into which he
was sinking farther and farther. Not one
had the courage to come to him in love and seek to get him help, or to prevent
the havoc that he was continuing to cause.
Maybe, in the end, it may not have led the man to seek forgiveness and
deliverance through the Lord’s help, but at least it could have spared the
number of injured souls of the children strewn along the path of destruction of
his past.
As for the sin of homosexuality, I don’t claim to
understand fully or to have all the answers, but I do know that God knows all
the answers. I feel that in giving our
stamp of approval we have taken part in bringing havoc and ruin to the lives of
many, instead being there to love them and help them find a way out before it
became an entrenched part of their lives.
We have become so accustomed to not only winking at sin that now we are
even more comfortable at either turning a blind eye to it entirely, or doing as
the world does, just remove it from God’s word entirely so that, just like in the
world, it has now become tolerated, accepted, condoned. Giving it our stamp of approval, we choose to
forget God and what He has to say. If it’s not a convenient or popular to deal
with an issue, we just to rip it out of the word that God gave us for our
protection replacing with our newly found wisdom, which of course just happens
to be far superior to what God teaches.
After all, hasn’t that part of His word just become old fashioned and
out of date? And this is deemed as
showing love to the one that is entrapped and enslaved by that which is not for
his good?
There are those who would argue, “O that is only mentioned
as an abomination before the Lord in the Old Testament.” That statement is not
true, and even if it were, so what?
Jesus did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. There are many arguments heard in defense of
homosexuality as being just as equally good and right as heterosexuality. We hear assertions like the following: “I was
born like this.” “How would you like to
go through life without any physical affection?” “This is just who I am, my essence that can
not be separated from my whole being.” “This
is just an alternative life style, and I should be free to love whoever I
choose.” I’m sure I’m missing a whole
litany of arguments and ‘reasons’ why homosexuality should not be viewed as
anything that is wrong or in need of correction. Of course, anyone speaking out against
homosexuality is automatically labeled as homophobic, bigoted, hater, and I’m sure
that list could be expanded. I
vehemently speak out against anyone who puts their finger in the face of a
homosexual and tells them that God hates them.
They forget entirely that it was God who first loved each of us even
before we were born again, when we were still lost in our sin. He doesn’t hate the person; He hates the
sin. Why does He hate all sin; because
it can only bring harm and hurt to the ones He loves so very much. God doesn’t declare things to be sin so that
He can behave as a tyrant and smack us down every time we veer from the path of
right and wrong. Instead, He has given
us His law that we might become aware of the danger signs and stay within the
boundaries that they are meant to be to prevent us from suffering hurt. Like any good parent, He is only showing us
the boundaries so that we won’t take the wrong path and be irrevocably hurt or
suffer total destruction and eternal separation from Him.
Before I go further, I would like to inform the reader that
the views I have here written are for the express use of believers or for those
who are seriously seeking to know and serve the Lord. If one does not believe in the Bible as the
Word of God or does not seek to know and learn from Him, then you may be
wasting your time to read any further.
However, if you’re not quite sure, and you think just maybe this One
True God thing just might have something for you to at least consider, then
please feel free to continue. Perhaps
you just might be open to starting your own journey on the path to know God the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My intent
is to minister the saving knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus Christ to all.
Let’s just say that maybe you are already a Christian, or
seeking to know Him. Maybe you, or a
friend or loved one of yours, may be confused and unsure about the issue of sexuality. Perhaps you may feel that you are attracted
to others of the same sex. Perhaps you
may or may not have already acted upon it, but you are conflicted about the
issue in your own life. First of all, if
your concern is not for yourself but rather how to deal with it when you find
that a loved one is involved in such a struggle. My recommendation in that case is that we
should always act in love. You can love
the person without accepting or condoning the sin. For my husband and me, after seeking the Lord
and much prayer, it has been our mission to express love to that person and
also to convey that Jesus has better plans for them. We express that they can be set free if they
want to be. Their response and decision
to consider Jesus and His plan of salvation has to be a personal one. One can lead another to the Lord, but no one
can make him believe. If I tell someone
about Jesus and what He can do for them, then I have been obedient unto the
Lord. If they should say, “That’s fine
for you, but I want none of it,” then the consequences of their choice are on
their own head. However, if I never even
tell someone about what the Lord can do for them when I am given the
opportunity to do so, then I will be held accountable before The Lord for my
disobedience unto Him. If I choose not
to speak truth when the Lord opens the door for me to do so, no matter how
uncomfortable it may be, I have not really acted in love. If I keep silent or just say what the person
wants to hear, instead of what he or she needs to hear, then I have acted as a
coward, a liar, and a thief. I will have
robbed that person of the opportunity to hear and receive the truth and be set
free by the truth. Remember, I am
speaking of the truth of the Word of God, not of my own opinion or the opinion
of those in the secular world.
Let us now turn again to the Word and see directly what He
has to say. If you disagree, then your
argument is with Him and what He has spoken, not with me, for these are not my
words. I don’t claim this to be an
exhaustive study, but at least it will give us a starting point from which we
may discern that which is not pleasing in the sight of God. First of all, we are taught that you and I
are to use our body to give God glory.
Let us review once again what God, not necessarily man, considers as
being sexual immorality. “Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God kingdom of God
(I Cor.9- 10) That’s makes it
pretty clear doesn’t it. Is sexual
immorality limited to only homosexuality? No, of course not! As we can readily see, sin is an equal
opportunity vice, it doesn’t play favorites.
Remember, Satan is the author of sin and he is out to devour and destroy
anyone that he can. If you have ever
indulged in any of these sins, [such as effeminate (male prostitution), abusers
of themselves with mankind (homosexuality), or any of the others plus numerous
others such as involvement with pornography, etc,] does that mean you are
automatically and irrevocably cut of from entering the kingdom of God kingdom of God
Why am I focusing here more on homosexuality than the other
sexually immoral sins? I can assure you
that it is not because I think it is worse than others. Instead, it is out of love and concern for
those who find themselves caught up in the practice of it, being deceived by
the idea that they have no way out. I
can already hear it; “I didn’t have a choice.
I was born like this.” Now if
anyone is completely sold out to this belief, then your mind is made up and,
most likely, there is no hope for change for you. However, if we are to persist in that attitude
of thinking, then we would also have to say that the alcoholic must forever
continue to drink for he was genetically formed that way with no hope of
escape; the compulsive liar is doomed to live an existence of lying to the
point he can no longer recognize or discern what is truth; the one addicted to
drugs or pornography has no way out, but is enslaved forever, and so on down
the line. Many an alcoholic and drug
addict, once set free, will testify that their first step towards freedom was
admitting and acknowledging that they had a real problem. The next step was coming to the realization
that they wanted help which meant they had to make a commitment to do something
about it. No one could make that
decision for them. God will provide
help, but He expects our cooperation in the process of being set free. This is a simplistic example, and I don’t
intend to make light of the struggle to overcome any sin, but if one needs to
get dressed for the day, God is not going to do that for you. He gave you the equipment of hands and a
brain and then expects your ‘cooperation’ by using what He has given you to
dress yourself.
You may say, “O yeah, how do you know that God didn’t
create me like this, that’s just the way it is?” Consider just for a moment that perhaps that
kind of thinking is wrapped up in pride. “I’m just fine the way I am. I don’t need to be fixed or straightened out.
Nope, not me!” Consider the possibility
just for the moment that God really does know what’s best for you and He has a
much better plan for your life, if you and I will just give Him a chance to
work in and through us. Just maybe He
could remove all confusion from your life and mine. I have to admit that I too had entertained
the idea that maybe God did make some people that way, but then one day I saw
something in His Word that I had never before noticed. All of a sudden a light switch was turned on
in my head. No, I’m not some great
intellect depending upon my own ability to think and reason. Instead, that light switch was the Holy Spirit
who leads and guides us into all truth-not man’s truth, but the truth of
God. Look into the ‘light’ that is revealed
in the following scripture; I’m going to repeat the scripture that I gave
before with the addition now of the eleventh verse: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom
of God kingdom of God
(I Cor.9- 11) Do you see that word “were”? Yes, you’re
right. They were, but are no longer,
for they had been set free by the Lord.
Now, I don’t claim that it was done suddenly or miraculously in one
moment, though that could be possible.
Nothing is impossible with God.
But more likely, as it is for most of us, freedom from any sin in our
lives is a day to day process as we seek the Lord to grow and mature in
Him. That process is a life long journey
and is not fully completed until we see Him in Heaven and He gives us our
glorified body. Yes, in this life on
earth, we are guaranteed that there will be trials and tribulations in our
lives. But He has promised to continue
to do that good work which He has begun in us, melting and molding us more and
more into His image as we yield our will to follow and obey His will, to live
out His purposes and desires for our life.
Unfortunately, even some of our churches, pastors, and
leaders are compromising the word of God.
They will often neglect, delete, or pervert it and not teach truth from
the word. In that scripture that we have
now read and referred to several times, it is evident that homosexuality, along
with all the other sins there mentioned, are unacceptable before the Lord. However, some are treating it as though it
has been removed from the word and are condoning it as acceptable and good. Believe me; such people who are involved in
false teaching will pay a price. God
will hold any of us accountable for knowingly perverting the word and
contributing to the deception of the people.
Just by shear logic and limited reasoning of any human thinking, if I
refuse to teach that homosexuality is sexual immorality, and I start teaching that
now it is no longer a sin because it is deemed as right and acceptable in the
sight of mankind, what other sins then must I remove and no longer recognize as
sins? If I remove one part of His word,
edit it out, then what else must I edit out or add in? And are we each now given the position of
editor in chief of God’s word to determine by private interpretation that which
is to be adhered to and obeyed or disobeyed?
Has the Word of God been reduced to the status of a smorgasbord to which
each individual may come to dine, picking and choosing the parts that are
pleasing to us, and discarding the rest as it suits us to do? Don’t take me wrong, I don’t concentrate on
homosexuality because I think it should be deemed as a greater sin than any
other sin. Sin is still sin no matter
what form it takes or who practices it.
We are all guilty of falling short of the mark and are in need of
forgiveness daily through faith in our loving Savior. You know we can’t view
any sin as being just a ‘little sin’, just like a woman can not be just a
little bit pregnant.
As born again Christians, we must understand that He has
taken away all sin, but that does not give us freedom to live as we please,
doing whatever pleases ourselves. If we
are truly followers of Christ, then we must desire and work to be obedient to
the Lord, doing that which is pleasing in His sight. We must be doers of the word and not just
hearers. Like a refreshing and soothing
ointment, the word can only be effective and change us from within when we
apply it and live our lives in trust and obedience unto the Lord. “I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”(Romans 12: 1, 2) “What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price (the blood of
Jesus): therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God’s. (I Cor.6: 19, 20)
God gives us free will to choose to go our own way or to go
His way, being led by His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. A warning from the Lord that you will read
time and again is “Be not deceived.”
Part of the deception in the body of Christ, the Church, is due to the
fact that many Christians have become lazy and apathetic. How can we know and be obedient to Him if we
refuse to read, believe in, and study His word that we can be “workmen that
need not be ashamed”?
We are to love our brethren in Christ, and a large part of
that love is to be willing to speak truth to one another in love. If we go to one another with love, supporting
and encouraging one another in the Lord, but it is not welcomed or received as
such, still we must continue to walk and move in love towards one another. If we find that our loved ones are not open
to being taught of the Lord by us, then it may be time to reevaluate, perhaps
refraining from trying to speak or teach any longer, but never, never, never
giving up on praying for them. If you
attempt to share and reach someone only to have them reject your efforts, don’t
count it as failure, for you were successful in that you obeyed the Lord by
making the attempt. God has His agenda
and priorities specially designed to fit each individual, and we are not to
question that. Once we have tried our
best to reach out to someone in love, no matter what the issue or concern may
be, if that door is closed to you then just realize that it’s not you or I that
is in the control seat. Pray for one
another trusting in the Lord that He is the one in control. If one does desire to be set free, we should
be willing to walk along side them to help, encourage, and nourish them till
they are strong enough to withstand the fiery darts of the enemy. If you feel ill equipped to handle the
situation, then at least be willing to help guide and lead them to a pastor or
someone who is willing to be their help.
God is the only one that knows the heart of others. He is merciful and long suffering towards us,
much more than we know how to be towards one another. He has not told us to accept or condone any
sin, but to love and pray and leave the rest in His hands. Even as I write
those last words, I ask the Lord to embed them in my heart to set a guard
before my mouth and a guard before my heart that nothing would come out to sin
against God and come back to harm me. I
pray that each of us, no matter what we may be struggling to overcome, will be
willing and yielded to the will and teaching of the Lord. May the Lord send those who are spiritually
equipped to minister to the needs of others.
Some will be used to plant the seed, some to water the seed, some to
walk along the side of another, and some will be used in the harvest. May the writing and sharing of this be used
to reach, comfort, and aid those who may be hungering and thirsting for the
kind of deliverance and help that can only be found in and through the
Lord. No sin should be hidden because
then no help can be given or received.
Draw near to the Lord and He will draw near to you. He loves you and me, and he never gives up on
us. Harden not your heart, but seek ye
the Lord while He may be found. Where
the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.
Know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Below is a list of a few more scriptures if you choose to
read and study further.
Psalm 141: 3, 5
Romans 1: 1 – 32
Romans 3: 21
-31
Romans 14: 11-14
Galatians 5: 16, 22
II Cor. 3: 17
II Tim 2: 15, 22
II Tim 3: 1-7, 16
John 8: 36
*Continue on in your journey
to study and draw near to the Lord. The
journey is worth it. Bind us together
Lord with cords of love that can not be broken. Praise the Lord!
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