Has Your Candle All But Gone Out?

"A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, till he sends forth justice to victory; and in his name Gentiles will trust." Matthew 12:20-21 The heart of God holds close those who are bruised, who have no more than a spark left in them. If you are so depleted that you feel useless and hopeless, call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He will hear your cry and will raise you up on the way to recovery. Many times it is the broken and depleted whom the Lord especially calls. In fact, he often waits until a person is in this condition, because prior to this they are still demanding to "do it my way." Salvation requires surrender to the One who has created the person. God has made each one with a God-shaped void inside, and he often lets a person try to fill that void with whatever he thinks will satisfy it. The person will go through one thing after another, after another, always thinking "if only I can attain to this, I'll be happy." Or "if only I had this, I'd be happy." "If only..." There is nothing and no one on earth who can fill that void because the Creator himself put it there, and at last when the person has exhausted every search and tried everything there is to try, obtains whatever he thought would make him happy, yet remains miserable, that is when the heart can be reached. When at last the person falls down before Jesus Christ, the Lord will receive him; he will not reject this bruised reed, and he will receive this one whose fire has all but gone out. Jesus said he did not come for the healthy, wealthy and wise, he said he came for those who need a physician. "And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.'” Luke 5:30-32 Repentance can only begin when a person realizes his pitiable state and becomes willing to turn his life over to the great Physician. The person who brought me to the Lord so many years ago when I was broken, asked me, "Have you been a successful lord over your life?" I answered, "Obviously not. I am so broken." He then led me to Jesus and asked if I were willing to surrender my life to his Lordship. There was no hesitation about whether to take this offer. On that day I was born again, and I can testify that Jesus Christ changed my life totally and completely. I am no longer a bruised reed, and the smoking flax was put out and a new fire put within. I will spend all eternity looking for words to adequately thank him. Walking with Him has been the joy of my life. Surrender your life to the One who created you, and you'll find he is the only one who can heal and restore you.

Is Tolerance The Way To Go In God's Eyes?

“Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you! O Israel, if you will listen to me! There shall be no foreign god among you, nor shall you worship any foreign god." Psalm 81:8-9 Is tolerance the way to go in God's eyes? Is it ok to allow foreign gods to be worshiped in our land? First of all, we have to remember that America is unlike any other nation. America was founded upon the Word of God. Our laws were taken from the Bible. We are not like other nations who worship false gods in ignorance, therefore more is expected from us. Judgment will fall upon America, and the presence of false gods in our land is part of that judgment. We have ALLOWED them to take over to the extent that they already have. This is how far we have fallen. God has given "tolerant" Americans over to their own will, and that means judgment is inevitable. No, it is NOT ok to allow the worship of false gods in our land and America is going to find that out the hard way. We are nearing the Great Tribulation which Jesus said would be a time of horror worse than anything the world has EVER seen since the beginning of time. That will be God's response to false worship. It will be so terrible that unless God shortened those days, no one upon the earth would survive. "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved..." Matthew 24:21-22 At the end of the seven-year Tribulation Jesus himself will come back to this earth, destroy the wicked, and set up his righteous Kingdom. Scripture tells us that he will rule with a rod of iron. You'd better believe - no false gods will be worshiped in all the earth! And there will be no more need to try to bring the Gospel to the unbeliever, because there will be no more unbelievers. "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,' for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." Hebrews 8:11 How foolish is the country so blessed by God to turn against him just at the time when the Great Tribulation is so obviously almost here. He has raised up men to go forth and warn the people, and they have cried out with the call to repentance. But America looks at them with scorn and sends their children to the libraries to watch drag queens. It's just appalling what is allowed in our once greatly-blessed country. vs 11-12: “But my people would not heed my voice, and Israel would have none of me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels." We are a country that has been blessed beyond any other country on the face of the earth, but we have forgotten why that is so. Take for example Haiti. The Haitian government officially dedicated its country to Satan three times. See the poverty and suffering there - obviously Satan does not bless his people. However, our nation has been blessed above all the nations on the earth, but instead of deep gratitude, we have forsaken the God who has blessed us. Judgment upon America will be greater than that of other nations, because we are not ignorant, and multitudes proclaim that they no longer want his yoke upon them. They want "freedom" to kill children, to revel in perversions, to defy God to his face. Therefore the country won't survive when judgment falls, as it fell in Israel for the same reasons. vs 13-14: “Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries." Israel fell, and America will fall. It's inevitable. There is still time, although the age is coming to a close. Once the door has been shut there will be no more outstretched hand of mercy. Oh people, turn back to the Lord. Rebellion is not worth it. Surrender your stubborn heart and come back to walking in his counsels, that you might be saved.

Who's To Judge?

"Judge not, that you be not judged." Matthew 7:1 This is perhaps one of the most misused Scriptures in the Bible. When a sinner is confronted with his sin or when he is rebuked, most of the time he will answer "don't judge me," and he'll quote that verse. Are we indeed never to judge? Let's look at some other passages on the subject. "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Galatians 4:16 If telling the truth makes me an enemy, that means there's an unpleasant truth to tell. Sinners want to hear words of love, grace, mercy, anything that will make them feel better, but a lot of the time, truth hurts. If you're my friend I won't lie to you hoping that you won't view me as an enemy when I speak the truth, the hurtful truth. Bear in mind that the hurtful truth has been spoken to me first. The beginning of anyone's walk with the Lord will be all about repentance. When I have been broken in repentance, then I will see clearly, and if you're my friend, I will urge you too to come to repentance. The Lord tells us to EXPOSE the works of darkness. To expose them, I must know them. The world has an entirely different set of values, and among them is lawlessness. What is good they call evil, and what is evil they call good and that aptly describes the world. That leaves the responsibility to believers to point out evil for what it is, and to expose it. That is not hate, as they retort. Speaking of repentance comes from love. I don't want you to go into judgment. I don't want you to miss salvation. I care about you enough to speak truth. "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather EXPOSE them." Ephesians 5:11 Preparation for right judgment has to be from a thorough knowledge of the Word of God, for that is the only authority upon which right judgment is founded. A believer who is not grounded in the Word of God will not be able to judge rightly, for he will judge according to his own set of values and that differs from person to person, so it cannot be the basis of judging. The Word of God is the ONLY rightful authority, so it necessitates that judgment be by the Word of God and by no other. "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; CORRECT, REBUKE, EXHORT with all long suffering and doctrine." 2 Timothy 4:2 In Matthew 3:7, John the Baptist called both the Pharisees and Sadducees “a generation of vipers.” Pretty hard words. And he openly rebuked Herod the king. Obviously he's making a judgment when he says those things. Today, he would be accused of being called a hater, unloving, unkind, with no respect for leaders and most of all un-Christian. Yet Jesus said that of all the prophets, John was the greatest. Brothers and sisters, we are called upon to expose the works of darkness. The world wants to keep believers "meek and mild," and any variation from that they label with all sorts of sarcastic names. You will not be loved for exposing sin. John was thrown into prison and murdered. Jesus Christ, the author of righteous judgment was crucified. Yes, there will be a penalty for speaking up, but that must not make you cower into the "meek and mild" pansy that the world insists you be. That is NOT Christianity. The world demands that believers "love," but they falsely define love. Very falsely indeed. "Love," to them, is tolerating their sin and backing off from judgment. That is the voice of the world. Reject it. And when you are rejected, brush the dust off your shoes and walk away. One of the retorts of the sinner against the believer is to point out wherever he or she sins, thus making their own sin no worse than yours in their eyes. A believer does not live in sin. The very beginning of the believer's life in the Lord is all about repentance and the believer lives a life of daily repentance. He will fall, all do, but his heart is set on continuous repentance as the Holy Spirit sheds light on the hidden things of darkness. "Abstain from all appearance of evil." 1 Thessalonians 5:22 It's a life-long process as more and more light is shed. Any believer who is not walking in repentance had better not be in the position of exposing the sins of others. In fact, any believer who is not walking in repentance is highly suspect as not being a believer at all. Repentance has to be the foundation of the believer's life. Only then can he expose the works of darkness to the world. Above all, the believer must abstain from all appearance of evil. He must remember always that he represents Christ to an evil world, and if he is walking in obvious sin then he defiles the image of Christ that he bears before the world. Believers are commanded to judge and expose evil. Just remember that we are to maintain a life of repentance ourselves.