Last night I
was watching my service online like I typically do in this season of my life
and they were sharing awesome testimonies from a retreat they’d had over the
week-end. The one that stood out to me
was a young man who was bound by witchcraft and homosexuality. When he was an extremely young child his
family introduced him to voo doo by taking him to a ceremony. At this ceremony or another like it, a man
molested him which introduced him to homosexuality. I shared the picture and Facebook version of
the testimony so the world would be encouraged by the young man’s awesome
testimony.
However, this
testimony elicited an unexpected response from a former ORU [Oral Roberts University] peer (wing sister)
of mine. She called it “rubbish” and
completely disregarded the young man’s struggle and deliverance. It was late so I deleted her response because
I do not allow any form of blasphemy or grieving the Holy Spirit and His
evident work in someone’s life nor do I allow anyone to speak ill of my
spiritual father or his church. I don’t
play that! But not wanting to be rude
and feeling maybe the testimony was unclear to her, I inboxed her a message to
clarify the testimony of the young man and also my comment that Jesus can and
does deliver from witchcraft and homosexuality.
I thought that maybe she misinterpreted it to mean that witchcraft
causes homosexuality, which was not at all what I mean to convey. I quickly discovered that her issue was not
confusion with the testimony, but in believing that the Bible is true.
The young lady
has several loved ones that are active participants of the homosexual lifestyle
and because they are wonderful people—which I cannot argue either way since I
do not know any of them—has somehow led her to believe that it is alright for
them to be homosexual because “God created them that way” and He loves
them. She also went on to add that I am
judgmental, insinuated that I do not truly know the Bible (or at least how to
interpret it), and that I will have to answer to God for my sins of judgment
against His [homosexual] people.
This to me was
absolutely laughable and also extremely sad because some people really think
that their feelings about God and or His word determine how they are allowed to
interpret the Bible. They are sadly
mistaken. I write this blog not to
gather personal supporters, but rather to use my literary platform to preach
the Gospel of the Kingdom.
The Apostle
Paul provides an excellent passage that will direct the heart of this
post. It reads as follows:
“But even if we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to
you, let him be accursed. As we have
said and said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel
to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a
bondservant of Christ,” (Galatians 1:8-10).
Dear ORU grad,
FB friend, Twitterbug, or other acquaintance: whether I know you or not, like
you or not, I am not here to impress you.
I am here to lift up the name of Jesus and to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God
The Two-Edged Sword & Rock of
Offense
Let us first
clarify that the Word of God is a two-edged sword, sharper than any known to
man (Hebrews 4:12). So guess what? That
means the Word cuts. Or as Pastor Tamara
Bennett would say, “it’s cutting me while it’s cutting you”. We may not always like what the word of God
says and we as human beings with free will are absolutely entitled to that
preference. However, when we stand
before God on Judgment Day, He is not going to forgive us and let us in His
Heaven to spend eternity with Him if we chose to disregard or twist His word to
fit our preferences without repentance.
That’s not how it works. When we
truly know God, when we truly make Him our Lord and Saviour of every part of our lives, then we want to please Him; we want to abide by
and preach His word because it’s our passion.
It doesn’t matter how we feel about it because what God says goes.
The Bible also
refers to Jesus as the “rock of offense” and that is a most accurate statement
(Isaiah 8:14, Romans 9:33, I Peter 2:8).
I Peter goes on to say:
“They stumble, being
disobedient, to the word, to which they also were appointed,” (I Peter
2:8).
This means
that even the people who have been introduced to the Gospel, those who claim to
know, serve, and love God, can be [consistently] disobedient to God’s
word.
The word
disobedience as defined by Merriem-Webster
is the refusal to neglect or obey. This
means that the disobedient person knows the truth, knows what they are supposed
to say, do, or believe, and yet they willfully choose to do otherwise. They choose rebellion. And it is this disobedience that allows the
person to choose to be and or remain offended.
The Curse of Teaching [Promoting] False
Doctrine
The Word is
very harsh on those who teach and or promote off doctrine of any sort whether
it’s a Unitarian doctrine that states everyone is saved and going to Heaven,
they just don’t know it or that lying is ok.
Sin is sin to God and to be a believer and especially a member of the
Fivefold ministry (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and or teacher) and
promote it is a deadly mistake if it is not confessed and forgiven.
The Apostle
Paul writes to Timothy about false teachers saying:
“For the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires,
because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and
they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables,”
(II Timothy 4:3-4).
Jesus tells us
the punishment for leading God’s children astray in Matthew.
“Whoever causes one of
these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a
millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the
sea. Woe to the world because of
offenses! For offenses must come, but
woe to the man by whom the offense comes!” (Matthew 18:6-7).
Another
passage that pronounce a judgment on promoting a false doctrine states:
“Whoever breaks one of
the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called the least
in the Kingdom of
Heaven Kingdom
of Heaven
The Bible
places very steep judgment on those who know the truth and choose to do,
preach, or live otherwise.
Mistaking God’s Love for His Tolerance
Many people,
especially as it concerns homosexuality, tell themselves that since God is a
God of love, He would not really send unrepentant sinners to Hell for
eternity. These people are sorely
mistaken.
God most
certainly is love, but He is also holy and as such, demands us to be holy. Sin cannot dwell in His presence which is why
man was driven from Eden
Illustration: If I give you a gift card
to Nieman Marcus, but you never redeem
it, you will not be able to possess all of the wonderful gifts that are waiting
for your there. It’s like you never had
it to begin with.
It is the same
with salvation. If we never accept it
and walk in it, then we forfeit the abundant life that God longs to give
us.
Furthermore,
when we say that God is love, it does not mean that He is tolerant of our sin
and rebellion. This is one of the
biggest deceptions of our “advanced” society.
You become labeled as a bigot or hatemonger if you profess God’s stance
on homosexuality because there is a widespread misconception of God and His
word.
Illustration: An example I love to use
is a parent and their child. If you as a
parent tell your child to clean their room and they don’t, they are being
disobedient. You hate that the child
does not clean their room, but you do not hate the child them self. Yet the child’s disobedience requires
punishment.
God is the
same way. He loves each and every one of
us so very much! The word tells us that
“The Lord…is not willing that any of us should perish”! But I’m going finish
the verse that so many would prefer I not see or read because it states “but
that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).
The Fragrance of Life or Death
I have been
accused before of “cherry-picking” (preferential selection) Bible verses to
suit a particular theology or philosophy.
Yet it is not cherry-picking to preach God’s word the way He intended to
preach it. I refuse to have blood on my
hands for not preaching God’s word to the lost, or worse, for twisting and or
selectively preaching His word to make it more appealing to a deceived
generation. I could boost my popularity
with people and preach to their itching ears the things that comfort them in
their mess, polish their chains of bondage, or pity their flesh, but God would
be most grieved. I would lose my place
in Heaven and eternity because I was too busy trying to make myself a place
among men.
The Gospel of
the Kingdom of God
Repeat this
prayer with me:
Father God,
I
know that I am a sinner and my sin grieves You and separates me from you. I want to put aside my emotions, preferences,
and bondages to embrace You and Your word. Come into my heart today. I confess that Jesus Christ is the only
begotten Son of God who was born of a virgin, died on the cross, and rose from
the grave on the third day to claim my freedom and healing. I make you the
Saviour and Lord of my life. Fill me
with Your precious Holy Spirit who teaches and guides me into all truth! I accept you now! Thank God for saving and filling me!
In
Jesus’ name,
Amen!
My prayer is
that you repeated and believed that prayer with all your heart. If you did, you are transformed and a bona
fide son/daughter of the Most High God whose presence lives in and leads
you. If you make a mistake, it’s ok!
Just ask God for His forgiveness, ignore condemnation from the devil, and
continue to grow in the things of God.
Join a church near you that preaches the sound doctrine Jesus preached
and can help you in your walk.
I love you and
most of all, God loves you!
God Bless! xx
