Why Bad to Worse

Ever experience someone who could not stop being bad? People reason with them, but they will not listen. Nothing works.

Why will they not change? Today, I grasped an answer.

It is in Proverbs 17:4. "An evildoer listens to wicked lips; A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue."

Evil people do not follow watchful, loving men or women who recognize the inevitable consequences and endeavor to provoke change.

Instead, self-destructing humans, bent on being bad, solely pay attention to others voicing agitation, discord, depression, and grief. Like zombies, blundering along, they follow the directives of the discontented driving to desecration and disaster. (Is this selective hearing?)

When do people become selective for evil? Where is the proverbial 'point of no return'?

What does God do with the selectively evil? Two answers are:

• Hebrews 10:26-27 "26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries."
• Romans 1:28-32 "28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them."

Are you listening to God himself, solidly on good ground, gaining His grace, taking His advice, and struggling to imitate Him?

Editorial on 'Christianity'

Editorials voice one man's view on a subject, controversial or undisputed. Would we read more carefully if the piece was written by God's Spirit?

The Spirit of God is responsible for ALL the Bible. He used men to write the message (2 Peter 1:20-21).

As the Spirit wrote the editorial on Jewish history (Psalms 106), concurrently He was writing an editorial on people in 'Christian' religious groups today.

An examination of this 'editorial' finds the following relevant to many church-goers.

• They do not understand God's wonders (v.7). Many go for social reasons and do not know basic Bible stories.
• "They did not remember... "(v.7). When God's goodness is forgotten, it leads to rebellion.
• He saved them for His name's sake (v.8).  Salvation is designed to add praise to HIS NAME.
• "...they believed his word..."(v12). Some genuinely believe God's writtings, but often it is "believed" as a convenience. Watch what they do with belief later.
• "They quickly forgot his works..."(v.13). It is the "believers" who QUICKLY forgot, not those outside 'Christianity'.
• "They did not wait for His council..."(v.13). 
• When people forget, they overlook The One with the best answers. 
• In typical American haste, we imagine God has forgotten our requests. In fact, He may be waiting for the best time to bless us.

God's Spirit was not finished with His 'editorial'. 

• "And tested God..."(v.14.). What part  seems wise to you?
• "...they became envious..."(v.16). See God's works. Remember His kindness. Absorbe His wisdom and council. Who has better that you should "envy" them?
• "...and worshippes a molten image."(v.19). Were pennies, nickels, dimes, or quarters ever molten? Do the 'saved' woo or worship their jobs (a god?) to gain the 'molten god' of filthy lucre
• "They forgot God..."(v21). How often do 'the saved' substitute God with the target of our envy or the bling of a shiny molten god.
• They did not believe His word (v.24). Once God's word is no longer authoritative, then truth is suppressed, fellas become fools, sexual misconduct is supported, minds become depraved, wrong abounds, evil expands, greed grows, envy elevates, slaying is a solution, trickery thrives and malice multiplies, scuttlebutt substitutes and slander supersedes truth, independence is idealized, bragging booms, iniquity is invented, children disobey parents, understanding is undermined, love is lost, and mercy becomes minimal. Read Romans 1:18-32.

Then God's Spirit added these notes.

• They grumbled (v.25). They were not content with God's blessings. Sound like anyone you know?
• They did not listen to the voice of the Lord (v.25). At first, they did not BELIEVE His word, and now they will not LISTEN to Him. Does this create sporadic attendance?
• They joined themselves..." (v28). They JOINED another religion. Sadly, my friends JOIN religious groups. When following God's plan, HE ADDS them to His fellowship (Acts 2:47).
• They made Him mad (v29). What would, or should, God do to members of His church that make Him mad?
• They were rebellious against His Spirit (v.33). Why resist any part of God? What good will result?
• They did not conform to God's orders (v.34). God has always damned disobedience.
• They mingled with other nations (v.35). They were blending with people God had said to blot out. Do people blend their ideas of growing churches with God's specific commands?
• They learned other nations practices (v.35). The practices were picked up from should-be-extinct nations. God's church is not to be a mix of picked up 'practices', but pure, as God planned.
• They served the idols of other nations (v.36). God is Spirit. Worshipping Mary, an image of a relgious diety, or the statue of any man is idolatrous.

Furthermore, how many read these words and think since they have believed, or done a series of actions, they are eternally secure and can not be sent to hell. Hmmm. Let see if they have the same God.

After these digressions GOD THEN:

• Got angry and ABHORRED HIS PEOPLE (v. 40).
• GAVE THEM OVER to other nations (v.41).
• Their ENEMIES OPPRESSED them (v.42).

What an editorial!

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So some of you agree while others disagree. Put your ideas up for discussion by adding comments.
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They Stone Their Gods

I am constantly surprised with how fast large numbers of people change their minds (as though I never would do that--haha!)

Two years ago President Obama was hailed as the new hope to change Washington, D.C.  Now he is, on occasion, viewed as a liability to his own party.

Katrina roared ashore into New Orleans and the Gulf Coast causing catastrophic levels of damage. The outcry from my part of the nation was to help 'American Refugees' to get their lives back. It has been five years, the city hasn't fully recovered, lives are still not repaired, and the attention has shifted to the BP oil slick clean-up.

Man is a fickle species. They have been for more than 20 centuries. 

I read a story recently about a lame man being healed by two out-of-town dudes. When the locals saw him jumping, whooping, and 'hollerin', they assumed the Gods had come down to earth. They called the strangers (Gods) Zeus & Hermes.

It was everything the duo could do to dissuade the citizens in making sacrifices to them. You would think the people would put them on a 'pedistal' forever for doing such a noble thing. But it was only a short time later that leaders from a neighboring city came to town, and quickly stirred  up the people. Before you could sneeze, Paul is stoned and drug from the city as dead.

Maybe the best example of men changing their tune was what happened to Jesus. On Sunday he was given a triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but by noon Friday he was dieing on a cross.

Does this show the fickleness of men? Or does it reflect the work of infiltrators?

I believe it was neither. I believe these were the successful works by the "rulers of darkness", the same ones we fight against.

What do you think?  Click on the comment link and give everyone your thoughts.

Strange Coffee

I like coffee. I like flavored coffee, especially Hazelnut. And who would have ever thought that chocolate flavor in coffee could be good? And each person has their favorite roast of coffee for their preferred strength. Me? I like simple dark roast Community Coffee -- a strong taste.  But have you ever considered what it took to get those flavors in coffee?

As a scientist I can see many ongoing experiments. I could see someone trying to put pepper flavor in coffee. That won't work. I could see someone trying to put chicken or beef flavor in coffee. That won't work, either. Have you every heard of mixing curry flavor with coffee? I haven't either. I am certain that someone is always trying many experiments to devise a new, great-tasting coffee, thus creating a niche in the market for them to make millions.

But why haven't we heard of some strange flavored coffees? Simple. They just won't work.

It seems to me that some favors are not meant to work with other flavors.

In a similar way there are some patterns of living that are not meant to work in any life. It is one thing to be a Christian in the counter-cultural 'lane', and it is another to be in a 'lane' leading to trouble, heart-ache and death -- the 'lane' God has warned us about.

What are the God-warned 'flavors' of living that won't work? In Rom 1: 19-32, Paul listed some impossible 'flavors', including:

• men and women in homosexuality
• unrighteousness
• wickedness
• greed
• evil
• envy
• murder
• strife
• trickery / deceit
• malice
• talking bad about other people (gossip, slander)
• hating God
• insolence
• arrogance
• bragging / boasting
• inventing ways to do evil
• those who don't obey their parents
• those who don't have (or choose to not to have) understanding
• being untrustworthy
• displaying no love for others.
• displaying no mercy for others.

 Galatians 5:19-21 is another list of awful tasting 'flavors'. They are:

• being sexually immoral (any sex outside marriage)
• impure
• doing anything to excite the senses
• honoring anything as more important than God (idolatry)
• 'druggies' (either prescription or illegal)
• being hostile
• personal animosity
• being and creating jealousy
• emotional explosions
• the spirit of causing division
• being preferential to hurt others
• envious
• drinking alcohol  and being in parties to become intoxicated. 

And as if these weren't enough, he added a phrase to including everything in-between ("and such like").

There should be no struggle in enjoying good tasting coffee. And there should be no struggle to enjoy life. All we have to do is not 'experiment' by trying to add things to this good life that will make it taste 'yucky!' We have already been told these experiments won't work.