Are we in the “last days”? I believe we are closer than anyone thinks.
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7, ESV)
This was the apostle Paul telling Timothy, about the coming end times – prophecy as to when Yeshua ha’Mashiach – Jesus, the Messiah – will come again!
Look around you people! It’s all over the place!
- People love themselves more than others (proud, boastful, idol worship)
- People definitely love money (idol worship, covetousness)
- Thinking better of yourself than of others (pride)
- Being arrogant (thinking yourself to be better than others)
- Abusive
- Disobedient to Parents
- Ungrateful
- Unholy (a big one these days – how much has God been removed from the public?)
- Heartless
- Unappeasable
- Slanderous (speaking lies about others)
- Without self-control
- Brutal
- Not loving good
- Treacherous (lying to get something that one doesn’t deserve)
- Reckless
- Swollen with Conceit
- Lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God.
- Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.
That’s quite the long list – but again, look around you, look on the news, look at the anchors of CNN, MSNBC and even Fox News, and you see many of these, if not all of them.
I sat in a church service a few weeks ago, and listened as the pastor talked about having a Christian worldview. If we’re truly Christians, we have a truly Christian worldview and don’t deal with the sins associated with this list. The last part of verse 5 states that we are to “avoid such people” – why? Verse 6 gives us the answer – because they creep into our lives, burdened with their sin, and attempt to sway us into that sin, leading us astray.
One thing I noticed as I listened to this message, was that for every sin mentioned, not once was it called out vehemently as sin. The pastor danced around it so as not to offend anyone.
For example, when it came to Marriage – between a man and woman – He didn’t come out and say that it was:
- For one man and one woman
- Not for two people of the same gender
- That two people should be married, not living together in sexual sin
Let’s get real here:
Marriage was ordained by God: Any other cohabitation is sin. Genesis 2:22-24 makes it very clear. It states:
And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Does this say that another man was made from Adam? No! The Hebrew used here is clear. The Hebrew word for woman is ishshah – and the word for man is ish. THe Orthodox Jewish Bible is translates the Hebrew as follows: “And the adam said, This is now etzem (bone) of my etzem, and basar (flesh, skin) of my basar; she shall be called Ishshah (woman), because she was taken out of Ish (man).”
It goes on to say in verse 24, again, translated from the Hebrew: “Therefore shall an ish leave his av (father) and his em (mother), and shall cleave unto his ishshah: and they shall be basar echad (one skin or flesh).”
I’m not a “King James Only” devotee – and given that the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament – was written in Hebrew. I will always go back to Biblical Hebrew to see God’s true Word. Moses wrote these words as the Holy Spirit directed. Moses spoke Hebrew, and these words were written in Hebrew. The OJB – Orthodox Jewish Bible is one of the foremost authorities on Biblical Hebrew Translation.
Homosexuality is sin: To say otherwise is to deny scripture. Given that “they shall be ‘besar echad’ – one skin” mean a man (ish) is to come together with a woman (ishshah) in a sexual union for the purposes of procreation, and the enjoyment of each other in love and bonds of matrimony – it is not biblical to declare that two women, or two men can come together in any kind of sexual union.
The bible specifically calls it out!
Leviticus 18:22:
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. (ESV)
Thou shalt not lie with zachar (male), as with ishshah: it is to’evah (abomination, detestable) (OJB)
This was written to the men – yes, but it was just as applicable to women, as we see in Deuteronomy 22:5:
“A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” (ESV)
“The isha shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a gever (man) neither shall a gever put on simlat isha (garment of a woman); for all that do so are to’avat (abomination, detestable) unto Hashem Eloheicha.” (OJB)
Sounds like homosexuality – and transviteism to me. They are detestable to God – and thus sin.
Pastors – we need to stop trying to not offend anyone. Our job is to give the truth – and this is the truth. Tap-dancing around sin isn’t going to bring people to repentance – and that’s our job! To bring people to repentance, and the loving salvation of Yeshua ha’Mashiach – Jesus, the Messiah – the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords.
Pastors, the Rapture is close at hand. All of the prophetic signs are in place.
Israel has become a nation again, and the people are returning to the Land again.
Yerushalaim (Jerusalem) has again been taken under control of Israel – and is now being recognized as its capital! As of this writing, the United States, Guatemala and Brazil have made this recognition, and other nations have it under consideration.
Prophecies in Ezekiel 38 & 39 are starting to form, with Russia, China, Iran and Turkey becoming major players in the area, and all have an eye on Israel. Armageddon is the war played out in the Tribulation by these major powers.
Earthquakes, pestilences, floods, rumors of wars – all have been on the increase (Luke 21:10-11).
Look at the list from 2 Timothy at the beginning of this post – tell me pastor, have you called this out publicly – from the pulpit? Probably not – because we don’t want to offend anyone.
Again pastors – our job is to preach the truth, in season and out of season. Jesus wasn’t afraid to overturn a few tables to show that what was being done in the temple was wrong. Jesus offended people, especially the pharisees, all the time – and for good reason. When the teacher is doing wrong, the teacher should be called on the carpet. Jesus did this a lot – and he was hated for it. That didn’t bother him – discipline was needed, and he was going to administer it. Do out kids like it when we discipline them? Of course not. We do it because we love them, and we want them to do the right thing. Jesus wanted the pharisees and rabbis to teach properly
He also called out sin when he saw it in the people. He never condemned, but he called it out. There were numerous examples of it in the Bible.
One of the most famous was in John 4 – the woman at the well, who was married five times, and giving potential #6 a test ride while shacking up with him. He told her everything she’d ever done – she was amazed and became the town evangelist, “come, and see a man who told me all that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (v. 29). Jesus treated her with respect, but told her all about her sin. She knew, that He knew.
The other is in John 8 – the woman caught in adultery. Yes, it was a set-up to catch Jesus blaspheming the Law, but he knew that. Did he berate or condemn this woman? He did however, tell her to “Go, and sin no more.” (v. 11).
Jesus loved the sinner – he hated the sin – and called it out. We too, as Christians – are to love the sinner, but hate – and call out – the sin. We don’t condemn anyone – because we too, were once condemned. Our job is to lead people to repentance and salvation.
Pastors – our job is to not only to call out sin, but we’re to do it boldly, without fear of whatever someone may think of us. If a member of our congregation disagrees with the biblical stance on sin – challenge them to come up with rebuttal scripture.
Also pastor, Jesus wasn’t a Democrat or a Republican. He wasn’t a Christian either. He was – and is – God. As such, it’s His way, or the highway – there’s no gray area here. His Word is clear – sin is sin, and it’s not to be tolerated.
That means that unmarried couples in the church are to be counseled to get married, live apart until such time that they do – giving them the supporting scripture. If they are true believers, they should do the right thing. If not, then they should find a new church.
That means we don’t permit homosexuals to serve in any capacity in our church. That’s just inviting the devil into our church and into our church life. We work with those who are battling this issue, teaching them the Word of God, but we don’t compromise. If the person repents – wonderful, but if not, they you must seriously question whether it’s best to have his person in your midst.
This means that we pull those persons we find in sinful situations aside, and privately confront them, with the result being restoration to the body of Christ.
Heck, we all sin – going back to John chapter 8, wasn’t it Jesus who told the pharisees, ready to stone the woman, “let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” (v. 7). Romans 3:23, Paul said “for all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s glory.” What’s required? We all must repent – and the unsaved, must be called to repentance and salvation. It’s our job to bring them there!
Dancing around the topic of sin is called compromise – and that’s one thing that we are to never do – we never compromise our faith. If telling someone that homosexuality is a sin, and that makes me a bigot – then I’m a bigot – for the name of Christ! Let the LGBTQ community picket my church.
A pastor recently lost his job for standing up for this biblical belief. He posted this sign at his church. You can read all about it here.
This church has problems – and is in need of discipline.
Of course in this case, the church elders were facing an exodus of members from the church. So, we have to be politically correct – to keep butts in seats? Absolutely not! Who is the shepherd of the church? The Pastor shepherds the church under the authority of Jesus Christ – not some elected board. Elders advise the pastor in spiritual issues, and Deacons assist the pastor in administration of church functions, but ultimate responsibility rests with the pastor – and in this case the Elders were absolutely in the wrong!
I hope that this hit home with some pastors, leaders and teachers. If it convicted you, then it did.
What to do now? I think you already know. Go – and preach the gospel!
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Paul writes in Romans 1:18-32:
God is getting ready for judgement. Why He’s held His hand back this far is only because He’s long-suffering. This will not last forever though.
In other words, your church is for all intents and purposes, a not-for-profit corporation under the laws of the United States Internal Revenue Service Code.
Violating this rule could cause the organization to lose their tax-exempt status, and as such, all donations could then be considered taxable – and donors would not be permitted to deduct these donations from their federal tax returns.
Yes, there, I said it – by being a mediocre non-profit corporation, you’re a slave to your government masters – and you cannot serve God and Money – you cannot serve two masters. That’s what you’re doing – violating scripture (
And no – you cannot “separate church and state” here – you either serve God, or serve man. What did Jesus say in Matthew 6:24?
To those (supposed “Christians”) who love shoving a person’s past down their throats, please allow me to give this reminder from A. W. Tozer:
Someone told me the other day that something I wrote offended them. I’m sorry that it offended, but what I wrote was from the Word of God.
Guess what – God doesn’t overlook any sin. He don’t wink at sin. God is holy, and He cannot be anywhere there is unholiness. As soon as we all learn that – that God is holy – and he expects all of us – and especially those of us in ministry – to lead holy lives.