In the previous blog post comment thread, a Christian blogging friend of mine was undeservedly labeled with a disparaging remark. I thought that a portion of my response deserved a blog post [a.k.a. a “Blogment”] all its own. So here it is, with some added links and commentary:
Originally in reply to GMpilot:
From my perspective, Black3Actual does not deserve your disparaging remark. Just because you reject what he is sharing doesn’t make him what you called him in your comment.
For the longest time, you have disparaged God because of your own negative opinion of Him. You believe that the call in Scripture for the fear of God is something to dislike; even hate.
In Matthew 10:28, Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
The fear (meaning, dread) of God happened to Adam and Eve the moment that they sinned. Prior to that, they had a forever kind of loving relationship with Him. We (all human beings since) have inherited this tendency to sin, and thus unredeemed men and women (if honest with ourselves) also have the same dreaded fear of God.
Upon being saved, that slavish “fear of dread” turns to a reverential awe of God. This is what Jesus Christ accomplished for us at the cross. We no longer live in dread of our Heavenly Father – it turns around 360 degrees [meaning, a TOTAL turn in which we can face Him because of His agape love] towards a renewed and caring love for Him! And, because of our reverence for Him, His righteousness, and His Holiness, we fear to do evil. Our desire is to live rightly, for Him!
I see Black3Actual’s heart as being a believer who wants the Lord to use him for His great purposes and His glory. Through reading his blog – The Oil For Your Lamp, I see him as desiring to meet people who are lost with whom he can share the Gospel of Christ.
Jesus shows us many times in Scripture how to pray. There is a great difference between those who say pagan prayers (where he/she tries to harness the spiritual powers of the universe to do his bidding… and so will say, “As I will so it must be.”) They are actually proclaiming, “my will be done.” It is the “being their own God” syndrome. Contrast that with the Christian prayer, “Thy [God’s] will be done.”
The Bible has been attacked over the last 200 years or so like never before. We have been warned in Matthew 24 that this will be the case the closer we get to the end times when “the love of many will grow cold.” The KJV says, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will wax cold.”
“Wax” as a verb from Dictionary.com:
1. to increase in extent, quantity, intensity, power, etc.:
Discord waxed at an alarming rate.
[Note: Chuck Smith has a great written sermon on this verse. Read it HERE.]
Why has the love of many wax cold?
Because of lawlessness. Because iniquity shall abound.
We have seen the explosion of lawlessness and abounding iniquity here in the United States over the past 30 years! However, it most obviously became ratcheted up back in the 1960’s when the Bible was removed from the schools.
Mat 24:12
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Many secular “scholars” have joined in the savage attack. Yet, the critical scholars are proven wrong again and again. Why? Because as history unveils itself, the Bible is vindicated.
You, GM, choose your scholars. You choose your experts, in which mostly all express anti-Christian opinions. The point is that somebody chose those particular “experts” and they didn’t choose them by chance. They often stack the experts in such a way as to promote unbelief. [A recent example in the Darwinism vs. Intelligent Design battle is the so-called Homo naledi, which is already being questioned as a unique species of unclear evolutionary importance.]
The truth is, that link questioning this unique species will not get anywhere near the exposure via the media as the “discovery” of Homo naledi has.
But that is only one example. The quest to disprove (as well as disparage, twist, misinterpret, demonize etc.) the Word of God will go on until Christ returns. Meanwhile, Christians are rest assured that:
Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. – Psalm 119:89
GM, I don’t ban you and I continue to answer your anti-Christian rants here for the purpose of countering what you write; and hopefully helping those who may come upon this blog to read the posts and comments to see what the Bible says on such matters. I don’t know everything, but God’s Word has the correct answers. Whether you agree or not doesn’t really matter.
Dostoyevsky famously said, “If there is no God, then all things are permissible.” That is why the fear of God is good, and to be a God-fearing person is healthy.
I have attempted to begin to express the relationship between the love and the fear of God. I’m sure there is much more evidence of this that can be shared from the Bible. I would like to encourage readers to share such evidence in the comment section!
~ Christine
Hat tips to all links.
H/T: Black3Actual
H/T: GMpilot
Tags: answering critics, Bible, Bible Prophecy, Christian apologetics, End Times, faith in Jesus, Jesus Christ, love will wax cold
Talk Wisdom 
September 28, 2015 at 6:55 pm |
Christine,
GM does not realize it, but he has assumed the Throne of God (as you have tried to show him — many times). He cannot see past himself. However, it took me many years to realize that we should feel pity and compassion for him. And even after all those years, had it not been for the Word of God he belittles, I still would not understand why I should feel compassion for him. But by God’s grace, now I do. It is because he is afraid. We are all afraid, but you and I have found the courage to step out into the light. Now, though we still have fear, we walk in the light because of our faith — and He comforts and strengthens us in return. But those like GM cannot muster the courage to step into the light, so they turn inward. Either they chose themselves over all else, or they are simply paralyzed by their fears, but never the less, it is fear that drives them.
A poet once wrote that it is better to have a bloody hand than a hard heart. You and I understand this — because of the blood shed by our Savior. So we pray that, through God’s Grace, GM will someday find the courage to step out into the light with us and let Christ remove his fears.
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September 29, 2015 at 12:43 pm |
Well said! I know so many people who are like this:
Just two examples.
I have a relative who could not hide her negative body language as I sat down, wanting to share a Bible verse with her. My goal was to explain how, and why the virgin birth of Christ was necessary; because she doubted that it could even possibly be true. I think that (like you mentioned) she was paralyzed by her fears.
I had another relative proudly retort back to me that he is “a progressive;” and it became very obvious to me that this particular ideology was even more important than any religious affiliation he may have. He seems impressed with Buddhism, and wanted me to read a book about it. I said that I would read it, if he agrees to read a book that I would recommend. Suffice it to say, that conversation never resurfaced! He is an example (like you stated) of being unable to see past himself.
It isn’t only the fact that witnessing these days is difficult. Even just talking about God, Jesus, and the Bible makes some individuals uncomfortable. Isn’t knowledge considered power? Then why would someone reject the knowledge of God via the Bible? I think you are right, my friend. It is because of fear.
Fear manifests itself in many ways. I can only share what my fear was before being born again in Christ. I thought that I might be “going against the Catholic church teachings” at the time. Little did I know back then that so much of what was being taught to me (and even more importantly, eliminated from the teachings) were not biblically sound and lacked the true doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I join you in your prayers. I have many individuals on my prayer list. We know that we can only plant the seed, pointing towards redemption through the Cross of Jesus Christ, and pray for the lost. The Lord God ultimately does the saving.
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September 29, 2015 at 2:38 pm
The person who likes Buddhism is an example of how people make their own religions. Buddha said NOT to turn his ‘philosophy’ into a religion — yet this is exactly what people did. By definition, this makes Buddhism a cult and not a religion.
It is fear, and the fear is born from the realization that, once they acknowledge God, they must start to obey Him or face the consequences they choose. So, at the very core of this fear is the realization that they are condemned unless they surrender to God, but they cannot bring themselves to surrender because they lack the faith, courage or are unwilling to obey another. When all you can see is yourself, the idea of God is about the most frightening thing a person can face. We have to keep that in mind in trying to witness to the lost.
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September 29, 2015 at 7:51 pm
Well said, my friend. Perhaps he likes the fact that he can just follow a philosophy – like Buddhism – rather than even making it into a religion? Just an added thought for the conversation.
The “unwillingness to obey another” – especially God – is the core of the issue. It is what led to The Fall in the first place, and unredeemed mankind has been running away from Him ever since.
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September 29, 2015 at 2:04 am |
CJW: I don’t know everything, but God’s Word has the correct answers. Whether you agree or not doesn’t really matter.
Okay. I don’t agree, and it doesn’t really matter.
Dostoyevsky famously said, “If there is no God, then all things are permissible.” That is why the fear of God is good, and to be a God-fearing person is healthy.
You’ve actually read The Brothers Karamazov? I’m impressed. (Of course, it was one of the brothers who actually said that.)
There are those who believe that there is a god, and still behave as though there isn’t. All the things that one might think a god would not permit are here in abundance: murder, famine, theft, adultery and many, many more.* One is forced to conclude that this god allows them for its own unknowable purposes, or that it doesn’t care at all, or that it isn’t there at all. (Or maybe people are worshiping the wrong god.) Glad it’s not my problem.
If it has a purpose for these things, it won’t tell us. If it can’t or won’t do something about them, then it is not worthy of worship.
Another slow day, huh? At least once a year you hang a post around my name. But I never get credited in your tags. Maybe you should do that. That way, in the future it’ll be easier for you to find the post where I said “I hate god”.
*This is usually glossed over with “God’s ways are not our ways.”
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September 29, 2015 at 1:00 pm |
We have been through the “why God allows” battle many times in the past. The point is, because there is one Holy, Righteous, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Eternal, and loving Creator of the universe, all things are not permissible. Unredeemed people can think that morality doesn’t matter; but the moment they are attacked in some way, or abused – you name it – then moral behavior set in motion by God Himself through His Word, becomes important and necessary to them.
There is no need for me to “gloss over with ‘God’s ways are not our ways.’ ” That is true, in and of itself; however, the gift of free will afforded to mankind allows me to choose Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior while allowing you to reject God the Father’s provision for redemption and salvation. Therefore, all other moral obligations (if you will) can be held or rejected by individuals as well.
On another note…so you want me to include your screen name in my tags? For what purpose? Or is it that you want a hat tip? OK…if it makes you feel better I will H/T GMpilot in the post. Happy now?
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October 8, 2015 at 5:01 pm |
Why has the love of many waxed cold? —- I would say it is because the “Many” have had a taste of that love as expressed in the judgmental looks and actions of another “Many” who call themselves Christian Brethren but who wouldn’t know what love looks like if it “Smote The In The Snoot.” Christianity is a great thing unless two people sit down to talk about it and then the devil steps in and causes anger, strife, dissumulation and the harboring of a temptation to engage in profitless endless disputations … and when that happens … as it invariably does …. somebody gets their feeling hurts and starts questioning the sincerity of the person they are talking with and anger rises and ruins the entire relationship. So people who have experienced this phenomenon walk away thinking, “if that was Christian Love then I want no part of it …. because it hurts!” — So we have a whole generation rising now who have beheld the strife, the angst and confrontations of their forebears and they are asking themselves, “Is there a better way?” I think one of the problems is that even though every person who confronts the Gospel hears the same message, the human nature takes over and selects the part of the message that sounds good or feels good to the individual and all the rest is rejected or hidden under a bushel and the person becomes a “Cafeteria” Christian taking only what he or she wants from the Scripture. So when it is all said and done we all hear the same message but there are different administrations in all those who receive the message and they all receive it in a manner different from those around them and if they aren’t careful confusion and strife and bad feeling arise and then the coming together of whoever it is involved in the uncomfortable feelings about the message resists the ministrations of the other and heads butt together and in the end it all resolves down to “Everybody has their own idea about what The Bible says. That is a good thing too because Christians will not be judged as a group. Christians will be judged as individuals. And it is the individual perception of the message that sets the foundation for the building he or she is building and in the end determines whether the individual building is built on solid rock or on shifting sands.
Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword and to set people against one another. He said it himself.
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October 9, 2015 at 5:16 am |
Much of what you wrote is very true, John. Hello and welcome to Talk Wisdom! I appreciated your input here.
About the “arguing” between Christians. I think it’s healthy! In fact, it is the only way that the truth can be determined vs. those who would follow after “another Gospel.” We are warned in Scripture that false teachers of heresy and apostasy can easily “creep in” and cause the weak to follow after such errors – precisely because they are wanting “their ears tickled.”
Secular society lives in the “tickled ears” realm of ideology – and THAT is why many of them reject, sneer at, revile, and absolutely HATE the truth of the Bible – as well as those Christians who are willing to share such truth.
By the end of your comment, I see that you understand this to be true.
In some cases, the “arguments” between Christians (just as an example – the pre, mid, or post tribulation mindset that each of us may have as to when the Rapture will occur) may cause us to “agree to disagree” with our Christian brothers and sisters. However, the main point that the Great Tribulation WILL happen (no matter at what point Jesus will come for His own and snatch us up) can be agreed upon despite the differing opinions on the timing of the event.
On the other hand, there are certain issues that cannot be reconciled because they contradict what the Bible teaches us about them! THOSE are the “sticking points” that non-Christians hate about our faith. But so be it! As you wrote, Jesus did not come to bring peace (at his first appearance on earth), but a sword (the sword of the Spirit which leads us into the Author’s meaning(s) in HIs Word) which undoubtedly ends up dividing people. The reason? Because unrepentant, unredeemed man cannot accept what those of us who have repented of our sins and thus have been redeemed accept – the TRUTH of the Gospel.
Many so-called “Christians” want to believe in the cross-less Gospel. They would rather follow a “gospel” of their own making. Why? Because, like you wrote, they have chosen the “shifting sands” rather than the Solid Rock of true, genuine, Bible-based Christian belief. You stated a great example of the “shifting sands” type of person when you wrote:
SO VERY TRUE! But the Cross of Jesus Christ does not allow for such a thing as a “cafeteria” Christian! Jesus knows the “wheat from the tares,” and though He is allowing both to grow together, come harvest time, He will separate those who belong to Him (the wheat) from those who don’t (the tares). Jesus explained in the parable of the wheat and the tares why this is done. He does not want to uproot the wheat (along with the tares which looks like wheat as it grows) until the end times when our Lord and Savior will do the harvesting.
I really appreciated your comment John! Good points shared and you truly added to the conversation here!
God bless,
Christine
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October 9, 2015 at 2:23 pm
Thanks, Christine! All I know is “Jesus is my Savior, I shall not be moved.” and “Though Satan rages, we’ve got the Power in The Name of The Lord.” I love the fact that you are carrying the Word to a world that is desperately in need of it.
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October 9, 2015 at 7:33 pm
The most important knowledge in life is knowing Jesus as Savior! All else pales in comparison!
As you pointed out, we have been warned throughout Scripture (especially through Jesus’ own words) that Satan will rage and lie to take as many nonbelievers as he can muster with him into the pit of hell. All we can do is share the mercy, grace, forgiveness, love and the TRUTH of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He does the saving, we just point the way.
Thank you for your very kind comment…and I agree with you! The world is in desperate need of the Word of God! There will be those who accept what we share and those who will reject it. All we can do is share the truth, and then pray for those who refuse the best Gift – His Son – that God has ever given man.
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