COMPROMISE displeases GOD

COMPROMISE displeases GOD

Hey, you, Christian, believer; Do you think you can bend the rules a little and not face consequences? I’m talking about COMPROMISE. I wrote about it a few years ago. You can find that study at this LINK. <–

The Holy Bible teaches us that God views compromise seriously. In fact, here are some examples of Biblical people who had consequences as a result of compromise. Read their stories and let these truths affect your spirit.

 Adam & Eve were the first Biblical people to compromise God’s Word. God told Adam specifically not to partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). But when Eve compromised and disobeyed God’s command, Adam chose to do so too (Genesis 3:6). The result of their compromise was that God cursed the serpent (Genesis 3:14) and the ground (Genesis 3:17), sentenced Eve to sorrow and the pain of childbirth (Genesis 3:16), and kicked them out of The Garden (Genesis 3:24). Adam was also sentenced to sorrow (Genesis 3:17) and to till the cursed ground for life (Genesis 3:23).

Cain made compromises when he offered produce from the ground as an offering to God (Genesis 4:3). God had previously cursed the ground because of Adam, so a cursed ground could not produce an acceptable offering for God. The immediate consequence of his compromise was that God did not accept his offering (Genesis 4:5). Cain also became very angry and ended up killing his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8), a subsequent and more serious consequence of his compromise.

Lot’s wife compromised when she turned around to look back at the burning Sodom & Gomorrah. The immediate consequence of her compromise was that she turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).

Esau compromised when he halfheartedly told Jacob he would give him his birthright if Jacob gave him some stew. The eventual consequence was that Esau actually lost his birthright to Jacob (Genesis 25:29-34).

Moses compromised when he struck the rock with his rod. God told him to speak to the rock (Numbers 20:7-10) instead he hit it twice (Numbers 20:11). The consequence of his blatant compromise was that both he and his brother Aaron did not get to enter the promised land (Numbers 20:12). Moses did not enter the promised land but only saw it from the mountain top (Deuteronomy 34:1-4).

Samson compromised when he told Delilah the secret to his strength (Judges 16:17). The consequence was that God departed from him (Judges:16:20), and thus his enemies were able to conquer him and put his eyes out (Judges:16:21).

Eli compromised because of his sons. The sons of Eli were children of the devil and committed many grievous acts against the children of Israel and against God (1 Samuel 2:12). Eli spoke to them but did not stop them (1 Samuel 2:23). The direct consequence of this was that God was displeased with Eli because Eli’s compromise honored his sons more than God (1 Samuel 2:29). The subsequent consequence was that Eli’s family was cut off from the priesthood and no man in his family lived to a ripe old age. Eli himself started to go blind, his heart was grieved and both his sons died on the same day (1 Samuel 2:31-34).

King Saul compromised when he disobeyed God’s direct command to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all their possessions (1 Samuel 15:3). First Saul allowed the Kenites to go free (1 Samuel 15:6) then he captured King Agag alive and kept all the good spoils of war (1 Samuel 15:9). The immediate consequence of his compromise was that God rejected Saul from being King (1 Samuel 15:26) and eventually tore the kingdom from him. The Spirit of the Lord also departed from Saul (1 Samuel 16:14).

King David compromised when he lusted after Uriah’s wife Bathsheba. He sent servants to take Bathsheba, brought her to his chamber where he lay with her, and she became pregnant (2 Samuel 11:2-5). After that David tried to get Uriah to lay with Bathsheba in an obvious plot to make it look like the baby was Uriah’s (2 Samuel 11:8-11). David then had Uriah killed by sending him into the heat of battle (2 Samuel 11:15). The direct consequence of David’s compromise was that it displeased God. The subsequent consequence was that evil entered David’s house (2 Samuel 12:11), God’s enemies got bold enough to blaspheme Him and the first child born from David’s union with Bathsheba died (2 Samuel 12:14-18).

Jonah compromised when he decided that he would not go where God had sent him (Jonah 1:1-2). The consequence was that he got swallowed by a large fish (Jonah 1:17), had a life-changing experience and eventually had to go where God sent him anyway (Jonah 3:1-3).

The Apostle Peter compromised when he decided not to sit and eat with Gentiles in the presence of Jews, even though he previously sat and ate with them when Jews were not present. The consequence of this compromise was that God used the Apostle Paul to rebuke Peter in front of the Jews and Barnabas, and to show him that he was not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:11-14).

Ananias and Sapphira compromised when they lied to the Holy Spirit and to God (Acts 5:1-4). The immediate consequence was that both he and his wife fell down dead (Acts 5:5-11).

These are just some of the Biblical people who allowed compromise, which resulted in consequences in their lives. The people of Israel also continuously compromised and are still living with the consequences of that today. The point of this lesson is:

“Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.“ ~1 Samuel 15:22-23 AuthorizedKJV

God is displeased with compromise! He prefers obedience over sacrifice and compares rebellion and stubbornness to witchcraft and idolatry.

Don’t be stubborn! Don’t continue to live in compromise! It is like quicksand and it displeases God. Stick your foot in quicksand and before long you’ll be up to your nose. Listen to God’s caution and repent.

COMPROMISE displeases GOD

DOES CHRIST/MESSIAH JESUS CALL MUSLIMS TO HIMSELF?

DOES CHRIST/MESSIAH JESUS CALL MUSLIMS TO HIMSELF?

I believe the people of the WORLD are ALL CALLED by Christ/Messiah Jesus to Himself! Think about it for a moment. Let the thought sit in your mind and meditate upon it.

In our two previous posts about Jesus in the Holy/Noble Quran, we briefly discussed the Quranic IMAGE and CHARACTER of Christ/Messiah Jesus and asked whether or not His image and character closely mirrored the Quranic image and character of Creator God. The questions in those two posts were for Muslims.

In this post we will discuss how the image of Christ/Messiah Jesus in the Holy/Noble Quran may be a CALL to Muslims to seek a Biblical understanding of WHO JESUS IS. To comprehend this, we have to grasp the connection/disconnection between Muslims, Hebrews and Christians.

Firstly, according to the Holy Bible, Abraham was the father of Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac was Esau and Jacob’s father. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and promised that He would make a great nation of his children (Genesis 46). Israel had 12 sons (Genesis 49). God also promised Ishmael that he would have 12 princes (Genesis 17:20) and he did (Genesis 25:12-18).

Secondly, it is general knowledge, Muslim traditions teach that the Arab people are the descendants of Ishmael. It is also believed that some of the people of in the region of Jordan are descended from the Edomites who were the children of Esau. In any event, it is widely held that Arab Muslims are Ishmaelites (Sura Al-Baqarah 2:125).

Thirdly, the Muslims throughout the world who are not Arabs would, technically, be grafted Ishmaelites JUST AS gentile or non-Jewish Christians are, according to the Holy Bible (Romans 11:13-24), grafted Israelites. Based on this thought, both Ishmaelites and Israelites are children of Abraham and thus are important to Abraham’s GOD.

So, WHO IS GOD? It is self evident that God is ALL powerful (omnipotent), EVER present (omnipresent) and ALL knowing (omniscient). He can do anything He pleases, He is everywhere at all times and He knows everything about everything.

The Holy Bible teaches that God literally divided time in two when He sent Christ/Messiah Jesus to earth as a man. There was the time before Jesus; the time when He lived for thirty three years; and the time after Jesus. Understanding that Father God sent His Word Jesus to become a man on earth is NOT difficult to accept because of God’s LOVE for His creation.

From the start, mankind’s connection to God had become severed because of Adam’s CHOICE of disobedience, and God immediately set a plan in motion for man TO CHOOSE to be reconnected to Him. During the time before Jesus came to earth as a man ALL life was a ‘build-up’ to His arrival.

God’s plan for mankind’s re-connection began immediately after mankind’s ties to God were cut. God set the plan in motion with a prophecy that a seed of mankind would crush Satan (Genesis 3:15). Bible believers hold that Christ/Messiah Jesus is that seed.

The Holy Bible also teaches that when Jesus came and made the ultimate sacrifice, He changed the course of time as we know it. He provided the only opportunity for ALL mankind to be reconnected to God. This death and resurrection was the key to defeating Satan. There is no other belief system in the entire world, whose teacher died and was resurrected from the dead to provide mankind with a re-connection to God.

All the people of the world who existed before the Messiah came, who knew the prophecy about Him, believed it and were expecting His appearance, had their chance to meet Christ/Messiah Jesus when He died. These were people from the time of Abel who was killed by Cain, up to the point in time when Jesus died.

These people were held captive by Satan in Paradise (also called Abraham’s Bosom) under the earth (Luke 16:19-31). The Holy Bible teaches us that Christ/Messiah Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth (Matthew 12:40 and Ephesians 4:9), fought Satan, took the keys of death and Hell (Revelation 1:18), ascended on high and took those who were held captive by Satan with Him (Ephesians 4:8).

Christ/Messiah Jesus did not take on the image of Angels. He took on the image of the seed of Abraham when He was born as a man. A man (Adam) had broken the connection to God and only a man, a seed of our father Abraham, could restore the connection. The Word became like us, to understand our human sufferings so that He could bridge the gap between holy and unholy, divinity and humanity, and re-connect us to Heavenly Father God (Hebrews 2:14-18).

DOES CHRIST/MESSIAH JESUS CALL MUSLIMS TO HIMSELF?

Believe, Obey, Commit

Do you think you can believe, obey and commit? You know, when some of us first believed it was because the Holy Spirit drew us to Christ. We heard a Word taught or preached and we held on to it, believing it. That was the first day of the beginning of the rest of our lives.

At what point did we really start being obedient though? This can be a struggle, for real! But God is so merciful to us, even in disobedience. His desire is that ALL find Him. He has your purpose in mind, even if you have no idea what it is. He can unlock that knowledge for you when you trust and obey.

Commitment seems like such a HUGE word even though this action is as simple as deciding to let go. Many people give up all the time for different things. Some do the ultimate and give up on life. For others it’s a lot less, like giving up a job or giving up on a loved one. Reflect for a few minutes on that choice to give up on something or someone. How easy or how difficult was that? Do you remember how you felt inside when you made the decision? Letting go and allowing God to take control is the same decision but with much, much BIGGER results.

“We are truly blessed because of our commitment. The start of commitment is obedience. The start of obedience is Faith: Faith in Jesus the Christ. Without Faith, it is impossible to please Him… the author and finisher of our Faith.” —SM

Hebrews 12:2 ~  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 11:6 ~ But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

1 Samuel 15:22 ~ And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Proverbs 16:3 ~ Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

Psalm 37:5 ~ Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Do you think you can BELIEVE, OBEY and COMMIT? You won’t know until you decide to try. Blessings!

JESUS whom Paul preacheth (part 5)

…continued from JESUS whom Paul preacheth (part 4).

Our Father God gave us an awesome power by the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. In the previous post we saw St. Matthew describe Jesus’ work in his words. Let us look at what St. Mark says in his words about the same work.

Mark 9: “²³Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.  ²⁴And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.  ²⁵When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.  ²⁶And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.  ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.  ²⁸And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?  ²⁹And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.”

Matthew told us it was an unclean spirit and here Jesus says it was a foul spirit. The words unclean and foul are translated from the same Greek word AKATHARTOS (Strong’s G169). It refers to anything that is not cleansed or purged as well as to anyone who is unclean in thought and life. Mark tells us here that this unclean/foul spirit also caused deafness and dumbness and Jesus rebuked and charged it (v.25).

We have already discussed this word rebuked in the previous post and said that “the word “rebuked” is translated from the Greek word EPITIMAO (Strong’s G2008), pronounced e-pē-tē-mä’-ō.” We also said that in other scriptures epitimao “is translated more mildly as charge and straightly charge in the sense of reproving or censuring something to keep it away from something else.” In this scripture this word charge (v.25) is translated from the Greek word EPITASSO (Strong’s G2004). It literally means to command. Here, it is evident, this evil spirit was judged (commanded to stop it’s assault) and sentenced (commanded to exit the person) by Jesus with the express command to “enter no more”.

So why couldn’t the disciples do this? Jesus told them privately that this kind of spirit can only come out by prayer and fasting. We know that before all this happened, Jesus had been fasting for 40 days in the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. He returned in the power of the Holy Spirit (see part 3). The lesson taught is that fasting gives us victory over Satan and brings us under the power of the Holy Spirit.

What is also interesting here is that this word translated prayer (PROSEUCHE – Strong’s G4335, pronounced pros-yü-khā’) refers to prayer addressed to God. To get a better understanding of this lets look at some other scriptures where PROSEUCHE is used. Where you see the word prayer, read it as: prayer(s) addressed to God.

Matthew 21:22 “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Luke 6:12 “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”

Luke 22:45 “And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,”

Acts 1:14 “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”

Acts 2:42 “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Romans 1:9 “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;”

Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

The bottom line is that everything must be done:

• in the name of Jesus;
• in the power of the Holy Spirit; and,
• we must make prayer directly to God.

In Matthew 17 and Mark 9 Jesus gave us a perfect example for casting out evil spirits:

1. Call them by name;
2. Forbid them to speak;
3. Command them to cease operations;
4. Command them to exit; and,
5. Command them to never return.

We cannot cast demons into the pit of hell as many teach because it is not their time and Christ has to do this at the final judgment (Matthew 8:29, 2 Peter 2:4, Jude 1:6, and Revelation 20:14). We must rebuke and charge them as Jesus did, in order to be effective against them. This is how we prevent them from oppressing us and others. Take authority now over every operation of the enemy against you. Walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and live victoriously.

Blessings! 🙂

JESUS whom Paul preacheth (part 4)

…continued from: JESUS whom Paul preacheth (part 3).

Jesus was such an amazing servant of the people. He had tremendous compassion and perfect love for people generally but moreso for people who were afflicted and suffering. He was merciful and gracious even though He executed perfect Justice with unconditional love. He could do this because He was Emmanuel or God with us. Let us continue our study on the works of Jesus; specifically on His methods for rebuking and charging evil spirits to stop them from oppressing people.

Matthew 17: “¹⁴And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,  ¹⁵Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.  ¹⁶And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.  ¹⁷Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.  ¹⁸And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.” (KJV)

We see some very interesting things here. The man’s son was a lunatic who was sore vexed and kept falling down. This word “lunatick” is translated from the Greek word SELENIAZOMAI (Strong’s G4583), pronounced se-lā-nē-ä’-zo-mī. It literally means to be moonstruck or epileptic. The words “sore” and “vexed” are translated from the Greek words KAKOS (Strong’s G2560) and PASCHO (Strong’s G3958) respectively. These refer to suffering from bad physical illnesses. The man’s son was suffering terribly from epilepsy.

Let me say here that I do not believe ALL physical diseases are caused by evil spirits. Many arise because of the pollutants in the foods we ingest, which are a direct result of the pollution of our environment. What the Holy Bible does teach is that unclean/foul spirits do cause certain diseases. The Holy Bible gives some examples of those diseases like deafness, dumbness and epilepsy. In this particular instance the bad physical illness was epilepsy and was directly caused by an evil spirit.

Notice that when Jesus rebuked the devil, it departed out of the child and he was cured in that same hour. This word “rebuked” is translated from the Greek word EPITIMAO (Strong’s G2008), pronounced e-pē-tē-mä’-ō. In other scriptures it is translated more mildly as charge and straightly charge in the sense of reproving or censuring something to keep it away from something else. In this scripture it refers specifically to adjudging or awarding a merited penalty to curb ferocity or violence. This evil spirit was judged (commanded to stop it’s assault) and sentenced (commanded to exit the person) by Jesus because Jesus was preventing further violence against the man’s son.

Let us examine why the disciples could not cure the man’s son, as well as another example of Jesus’ method for casting out evil spirits when we continue this study in: JESUS whom Paul preacheth (part 5).

God bless you! 🙂