Why Repent?

4/18/21

For those who have truly repented of their sins, this question has an obvious answer, but to those who have played around with this word and concept or those who have no care to do such, the meaning of the answer is about to be revealed.  Of course, the most important reason is to spread the Gospel of Christ to those who are not saved, but there is another huge issue as to why we should repent and this reason might even spare you and your loved ones in the near future.  God wants all people to repent and to come unto Him for His Truth and His Protection.  In a short time, things shall change and our eyes shall be witness to what God is going to show us today, so we need to understand that we need to draw close to Him for when this time reaches our lives, it will be tough to stand if we are not conditioned properly.

I wish I could state that it is every person's desire to hold down a responsible job and through this responsibility be proud of the wages that they honestly earn.  But in this day and age, there are countless people who would rather try and make a name for themselves by having their 15 seconds of fame on a social media site than to take the authority over such settings and do the correct thing.  Most young people these days do not care about anyone or anything but themselves and what they can manipulate and take from others with the least amount of effort possible.  This is a dangerous game to play when one sets these actions up against the standard of measurement for wages and prosperity.  Remember, wages are not always confined to just monetary results, there are waves and waves of other opportunities to earn other types of wages.

When I was a young boy, ministers did not make very much money, but still were expected to be available 24/7 when and if things went south in the congregations.  This trend continues today, but in many cases, the commitment level of said ministers is far smaller and shorter than my vivid memory recalls.  I remember answering the doorbell many times during this young period of time in my life only to see a member or two from the church standing there with baskets of fresh fruits and veggies in bushel baskets.  Funny, at the time I had only one thought that crossed my mind and that was something like this: I guess I will be spending a good amount of this afternoon outside shucking corn, snapping beans, shelling peas, or peeling potatoes.  I did not stop to think that what I was doing was to help mom prepare food for that evening's meal or to help prepare these items for canning, so we could eat at another time.

Oh, how many times these past few decades of my life I have wished that I could roll back time and have the opportunity to sit on the front porch as a young boy and complete those tasks again.  Times sure have changed, and as these times have presented their ideas we have become lazy in our beliefs and have lost such pride as an individual, a city, a nation, and especially as The Church.  We selfishly wish to gain wages that will give us notoriety instead of respect in our family's eyes and hearts.  We have traded honesty in workmanship for haphazardly produced line objects that over time we downgrade as just a job instead of a service to others.  What type of wage-earning is this and how did we reach this type of belief that we deserve more than our fellow coworker who provides the same type of result?  Our hearts have become so dark and blackened that we could not produce an honest result or service or even recognize such one.  I cannot help but look in amazement at the things we buy or believe we need in order to "make it" in our world today.  I also cannot help but tremble when I remember what God has shown me about the future and how lost countless people will be due to the fact that all of their gadgets and toys no longer are viable to their survival.

It is this type of reason as to why it is important we understand why we need to repent.  The Scripture verse that God wants us to have as our Guide today is a popular one from the New Testament but this time God has placed an added nugget of information to its Holy write and another step to its Truth about repentance.  Yes, God wants all of His precious creations to be with HIm when it is time to stand before His throne, but unless we have taken this word, repent seriously, and have lived in its complete meaning, we may have a gigantic ugly surprise that eternal day.  The verse for this article comes from Romans 6:23 and is as follows:

Romans 6:23

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Greek

"For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

As stated above, this is one of the most popular Scriptures that I have heard over my five decades of life, but what is it about sin that makes its inhabitance in our lives so deadly?  All of us have watched newscasts and have read reports of all the violence that grips our nation today.  You name it and we have heard or read about it recently.  The pattern that we have in motion now, seems to be getting worse and not better even though targeted laws and orders have been drafted, written, or thrown out left and right.  And to make things more frustrating and confusing, you have parents or neighbors getting on the airwaves and fueling the hype and confusing with pictures and stories that warrant a different look at the victims, and how they were good and did not deserve to die or be hurt in such a manner.  No one cares that many have ugly records or were involved in settings of gross disobedience that either directly or indirectly resulted in their demise.

The examples could go on and on but I believe you understand the point of how the first part of this verse comes into play, for sin does equal death on all levels and its process of reaching this point is something we need to understand and to keep in our foreheads.  While Satan is a repetitive clown, we have an easy tendency of falling for his lies and carrot danglings.  Satan is not stupid even though he is on a spiritual leash controlled by God, he still can operate through doors that we have opened and walked through.  It is this carrot leading that is the dangerous part, for it looks good to our eyes and it seems like there is no harm in that carrot.  But in reality, the carrot while it looks good is the sin that we allow into our lives and when we consume that carrot (sin) it begins its growth process.  YES!! Sin is alive for if it is allowed it shall grow and multiply until it has a good hold in your life.  That is why sin and the ugly things we allow into our lives always start out small or on occasion for if we knew right from the start that what we are accepting will kill us, then we would not participate.

This is where this verse takes hold and gives us an explanation of why we need to repent.  In everything, we need it must be purchased.  As soon as this sweet and "innocent-looking" carrot enters into our lives, its "nutrition" begins to do its job.  At first, its products will not be noticeable but given the proper amount of incubation time inside our lives, the origin and root of that carrot (sin) shall begin to look like the sickness that it really is.  The carrot and its product that it is supplying is its wage or the energy it produces after its inclusion.  From the beginning of Genesis until the end of Revelation God warns us to repent on a daily basis of the things we ingest and incorporate from the world.  Why? Because if left alone it will not die but it shall grow and it will eventually come to fruition, just through normal growth and living processes.

Also, we know that God provides us with life, it is the ONLY thing He can produce.  Therefore, the ONLY thing Satan and his worldly kingdom can provide is the opposite of life which is death.  Therefore again, through this spiritual Truth and reality, you and I are going to use the earnings that we have accumulated inside our hearts.  Think about this fact for a bit, ponder what all you have allowed into your life throughout your time on earth.  This is why being mad at someone turns into anger and then hatred.  This is why a small petty theft turns into armed robbery, etc.  Sin grows and when we continually allow its presence to live unabated for countless amounts of time, no wonder our societies are burning.  Our hearts are just as blackened as the smoke that rises from these burning cities.

Sin will come out but not in the form that it entered into your life as.  When pushed and then grown enough, something will trigger its outward arrival and it will appear in its true form for everyone to see.  Unfortunately, there will be many who have similar or in common issues appearing as well; ironically, when this state occurs it will not be too much longer than they will turn against like-spirited people, remember, Satan and the sin he represents is selfish on all aspects and levels of existence.  Today, we find that there are many people who have been cultured in sin, raised up with sin being the normal standard for their lives, it is this grooming that proves deadly sometime in their future.  Some folks figure this status out before things become overwhelming but those numbers who do are very small.  God asks you to take this truth into account the next time your eyes see another violent act that crosses your screen.

Yes, the most important reason why one should repent is to ensure that they have the capability of spreading the Gospel of Christ. However, there is another reason for when you truly repent, you automatically curb the advancement of Satan's kingdom which means you stop a future death process from being revealed or even displayed to the public.  Satan does not care that you will destroy yourself when it comes to such treacherous acts of sin, all he cares about is your destruction and how many people you can take down with you.  It is difficult to believe anyone would want to participate in such things that we hear about, organized war is bad enough, but when you place this type of destructive mentality onto your own land and people it places sinful growth to its highest position.  When this type of activity expands, and it will unless true repentance takes place, it will do so into other receptive societies and thus create a process in which the overall land cannot continue to survive.

Is the example you set out to provide of a selfish and sinful nature or is it one that displays God in everything you do?  These actions by us define the phrase "the wages of sin is death" and it leads to the 2nd half of the verse when it says that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  This is a stark contrast to the first part of this verse and it lines up the fact that you can either have death as your product or you can have life as your product.  It is a known fact that once the death process begins it cannot be stopped and yet the body does everything it can to ward off this permanent state until it can no longer do so.  The spiritual aspect of our lives is the same, it shall continue to seek its source of life until it is finally cut off by the lack of life.  True repentance comes with a huge fight, for it is our nature to die which goes along with the truth about the world and its ruler.

God sent His Son to be our representative in all matters concerning death and life.  Jesus paid the ultimate Sacrifice and presented His people with a covering that makes us clean and holy in the eyes of God, but we must choose each day to live under this eternal covering and serve God with all of our hearts.  We must crucify our sin daily, not just on occasion or periodically, a free fight for your eternity.  The true reason for repentance comes from the heart and when it arrives it automatically desires to share the Truth with others.  Truth when believed completely cannot be hidden for it runs over constantly and it is this product that should be on display.  Contrastly, the world continues the vulgar display of its belief without hesitation so why do we not have the same God-like characteristic flowing out from us?

Remember, a sign of a mature sinner is one that brings up accusations against you whenever the battle is ongoing.  Do not ever forget that our growth in Christ is measured in spiritual maturity, so we must contend that sin matures in the same way and manner.  This is the reason it is very important that we ensure that our repentance is alive and well Through Christ or the gift from God cannot mature and push out the inherited sin in our lives.  As stated above, the world has no problem pushing its agenda onto anyone that it comes in contact with, so we should be doing the same with the accountability of repentance.  THIS is the reason why we should repent, it is our mission to say such Truth to those who do not know.  Church, let's get going and complete the mission of Christ for time is short and things shall change soon; there is no more time to waste.  Our goal is to mature in Christ, not the world (sin), which is the reason God wants total separation from the world.

DLB

Handcuffs Of Worldly Freedom

Handcuffs Of Worldly Freedom

4/13/21

It is a realistic assumption to believe that the world can bring you freedom, for it is sold so easily and believable that not much selling or convincing needs to be done.  However, it is this selling that actually binds us to the ways of the world, and instead of freedom, it places us in handcuffs that limit our mobility and thus keeps us from completing the job we were created to do.  We do not have to automatically succumb to such agony and limitations, there is a Way that we can go to totally free ourselves from such bondage.  See, when the world has its way with us there can be no freedom in our lives, for the world can only offer death so why do we continue to fall for such antics?  God wants all of His children to live in true freedom without any limitations or weights on our lives, but in order for this to occur, we must allow Him to break these cuffs from our lives, His Way and not ours.

Have you ever had the joyful experience of being sucker-punched?  If you have, then you know that while you are mad at the person who did this act to you, mostly you are embarrassed because you were caught off guard enough to allow such a thing to occur.  Things are different when you are in handcuffs, however, for it does not matter if you are walking around alone or with others your defensive movements and range of motion is limited and it is this limitation that changes the setting from a sucker-punch to a deliberate jab to any part of your body.  But you say that only people who are in serious conditions with the law find themselves in such situations.  This may be true and with all of the negative publicity ongoing with these types of settings, it is easy to become defensive when this type of condition plays out.

We see this type of sucker-punching occur when the practice of slavery was in full swing around the world.  Most of the time when the enslavers would reach a foreign land it would be them that provided the lies to the tribal leaders to convince the people of their particular tribe to succumb to the authority of another.  As each tribal procession reached the beaches, the ones who were promised freedom were handcuffed and shackled and then grotesquely taken to another land and put into official slave conditions for the remainder of their lives.  What we are about to read is the exact same practice Satan uses to get us to voluntarily keep the handcuffs on our lives and to live in the exact same type of confinement.  He has done effective work for it has always been work in order to convince those in these shackles that they are not free, but captives.  Satan's job is to keep us in the world and its grasp all the while selling its captivity as the highest form of freedom possible.

However, are you aware that all of us are placed into such a category the moment we are born?  It is true, for the Bible tells us that all of us are born into sin, which means that all of us are handcuffed when our lives begin, without us even doing anything to warrant such action.  It is this state that God wants us to understand for He has provided a way for us to defeat such a held position and actually free ourselves from the handcuffed bondage of eternal slavery.  It is a common thought that when a person is handcuffed that they are then at the mercy of those who have done the handcuffing procedure.  As stated above, this setting is not a good one to be in for today you never know what will transpire while you are bound.  Sin is the only theme we have to know here that represents our handcuffs and when faced with this detail of truth, it places your choices on an entirely different plane.  The world shall never tell you that it has you handcuffed, instead it will tell you that your position and condition is normal and that everything is alright.

Sadly, countless amounts of people fall for this lie and believe that they have the best living conditions anyway, all the while walking around with their hands bound and not understanding why they always become battered and bruised through continual motions, not of their own doing.  This is the only type of freedom the world can offer you for it is in this condition that the world lives in and we all want to be equal in the eyes of the world, correct?  Therefore, when one does not turn to the correct Being for help they willingly accept this bound condition as their own and go about their business, and the world loves that you have chosen this condition because it has total control over your movements even if you try to find means of escape on your own.  And just think, when the world catches up with you, it has more chains for you to wear, and eventually your spiritual and physical bodies will be so weighted down that your everyday activities will be so hard that you no longer wish to achieve them.  While one lives in this condition, they will see sign after sign telling them that they can be better or that following this path will charge you for the better, but in the end, all it does is spend your precious energy on a whim and a lie.

Remember, the world is in constant motion, sucking up energy from everyone it can which means that it shall not stop with just handcuffs, it will go for ankle cuffs as well, then you have a complete mess in your life.  Your entire movements are controlled by someone else and they can jerk those cuffs ever how hard they want and whenever they desire to remind you who is in control of your life.  Again, sadly, we accept such mentality and living without too much consideration because we see so many others doing it that it must be the correct way to live.  It does not matter what type or kind of intentions are presented to you, the world can only provide you with chains, even when its message is freedom and equality alone.  There is no reason we should believe that anyone can thrive in such a bound condition, yet we do it voluntarily every day.  There is NOTHING pretty or fluffy about being in handcuffs, ever, for even designer handcuffs are still handcuffs!

Each accepted worldly opportunity only adds weight to the handcuffs which mean the process of subduing you is guaranteed even if you have not done anything wrong, the world demands that you are under its control, the definition of being subdued.  Your custody is now unlimited and you are in bondage to whomever the world wishes you to be at that moment; you are no longer in charge of your own life, spiritual or physical.  But there is a single Way that you can be free from this bondage and it is not a hard process to begin and then stay within and our Scripture verse for this article gives us the Truth about how to get rid of these handcuffs.

1 Peter 2:15-16

"For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty as a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God."

Greek

"For it's God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men. [Live] in freedom, (but) do not use [your] freedom as a cover-up for evil; [live] as servants of God."

It is not hard to admit that many of us use our freedom status to gain what we want or believe we deserve.  An added monogram to this belief is that when we do not have such things we can freely obtain them by forceful means without the consent of those who we are taking these items from.  All we do when we act out these beliefs is add to our bonds and increase our weight gain, we are not free and definitely not servants of God through these actions.  Quite a number of us sit and ponder how we can do such things and skirt around the fact that what we are doing is stealing from others which are 100% contrary to what God commands us to be.

God promotes nothing but freedom, both in physical life itself and in the spirit realm and we should be telling and showing people the Truth about their chains and cuffs instead of jerking them and adding to their misery.  When Peter wrote this epistle, he did so to the Christians that were scattered around a certain region and he also did so in order to remind them that what they were doing and how they were representing Christ was a form of worldliness and not True freedom through Christ Jesus.  Way back when this letter was written, the Church was playing games with God's message of freedom, and to be honest, we have not changed one bit from this blasphemy.  God has NO ties with the world and neither, should we.  These two verses explain the details of why God has no ties with the world and they also provide us with the guide as to why we should not have ties with the world either.  God is in the eternal freedom business and if this a correct statement, and it is, that means He is in the physical (now) freedom business too.

It is well known that any type of handcuff whether it is being used or not is a sign of captivity, incarceration, or both.  Sacrificial times in the Old Testament were supposed to be completed in a way that would remind the Children of Israel that they were separate from the world and the reason why they were separate.  In the New Testament, God sent Jesus as our eternal Sacrifice to once again remind us that both the physical and spiritual separations from the world were still in play.  So, why are we (the Church) entertaining and then bringing in accepted worldly practices into our temple (heart)?  How can we even begin to believe we are God's children or Christ's bride while we willingly do such blasphemous ceremonies?  Jesus came for our freedom from the world, not its inclusion, and only if we repent from the world (our sins) can we know and live under His freedom.  We no longer can afford to bring worldly items into our hearts, we must turn them over to God and allow Him to shed light onto our darkened hearts so that He can clean up the mess.

Interestingly, the Greek words used in verse 16 state clearly what our freedom in Christ should not do, unfortunately, we are living such a tragedy and will be held accountable for it someday.  Peter used these words of Greek origin to make God's point to people that we're setting the example to those who did not know God; the message of Christ has not changed and sadly our reasoning for incorporating the world into the temple has not either.  It is time for our repentance Church, for in a very short time we will no longer have the luxuries of a free and large church setting.  This planet is about to see and to face glorious changes, but many shall not see them as such.  God has had enough of our lies and selfish behavior and He is about to clean His house.  Repent! and once again preach the Truth about God and how He really wants us to be with Him for eternity and that in order for us to achieve such standard, we must accept His Son as our Savior.

DLB