Be Holy

1 John 4:16 God is love.

I have seen the above taught over and over and while the statement is true, not only is there a good deal more to the passage, there is a great deal more to God than just love. God hates sin (Proverbs 6:16-19) and that is an area that the, quote, unquote, Christian of today refuses to study. In 2 Timothy 2:15 we are taught that we are to put forth the effort to learn the Word of God for ourselves, we are to study to show ourselves approved. The modern day Christian, a.k.a. New Testament Christian, is being sold a bill of goods with no delivery due.

The Bible Jesus taught from was and is the Old Testament and yet there are heretical teachers that teach people that all they need learn is the New Testament. I've said many times, the New testament is the best commentary ever written on the Bible but if you only read the commentary it is like reading a comic book version of Gone With the Wind instead of the Book. They are both correct but you can never get the details straight from either one of them. A failing grade on a book report is not fatal, a failure at Christianity is!

Consider for a moment the fate of Jesus. Jesus had His beard snatched out by the handful, was blind-folded and beaten by soldiers with their fists, was crowned with a crown made of thorns that I'm taught were over an inch long and it was driven into the skull, he was given thirty-nine lashes with a Cat-o-Nine tails and then nailed to the cross with square nails. Jesus is the Son of God and yet the Father sent Him, knowing all these and more would be done to His Son. God the Father did not hate His own Son but there are seven things He does hate. If God will send His Son into this torture, to give you and I salvation, do you really believe He will wink at your unrepentant sin?

I understand that people are hesitant to name any teachings heretical and God does not expect us to do that, He has done it for us and all we need do is to learn the scriptures. The big issue of the day is Homosexuality and the truth is that as long as they refuse to repent in this life, they will go to Hell for it. But that is such a convenient distraction! Satan must be tickled to no end with himself. Liars will also burn in Hell! Lying and sexual relations outside of marriage are the people's wine of today and
Christians no longer are outraged by that behavior, God is though.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:7 we learn that we have not been called out of the world to commit sin but that we have been called to live a holy life. Can a man or a woman do such a thing? Yes, but not by ourselves, we need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for such a life. Holy, in one respect means to be set apart to God. In another scripture we learn we are to live holy because God is holy and while we might fail we are expected to get up and let God remove the dust of our failure and to begin anew.

My prayer is that every person that will read this message, given to me by God, will repent and renew their effort to follow God. But whatever you do, read the Old Testament.