November 09, 2017

God is a Jealous God

The banner in an inclusive spiritual center displayed a potpourri of beliefs, but the only two I recognized were the Peace Sign and the Star of David. The leader said, “All faiths and all religions welcome you on your unique path to the Creator.” One need read no further than the first two Commandments to understand what God demands from those love Him, “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand ‹generations› of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Ex 20:3-6 NIV).

1 comment:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----It was this same “inclusiveness” thing that drew the fury of God’s wrath upon Israel and Judah. In those days He was still assembling His Holy Bible through the prophets. His people then were learning first hand what He expects people to learn by example. For through them God gave a very clear example indeed. He even gave an example of His expectation that people learn by example: “The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: ‘Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot? And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me’; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot. Because harlotry was so light to her, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the LORD.’ 11And the LORD said to me, ‘Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah.’” (Jer 3:6-11) Notice how much more guilty Judah is than Israel because Judah was given Israel’s plight to learn by, and she did not learn.
-----We are given both their plights to learn that we come to the Lord God knowing the Lord God alone by only the concepts and ideas He gave in His Holy Word and history as effected by it. We have been given clear warning through the misfortunes of Israel and Judah that God and His expectations of us are not to be taken lightly. To brush what He says aside in order to display what we say is worse than idolatry, worse than adultery, it is anti-Christ. And like a tempest mounts upon its own worsening, God’s tempest against faithlessness is not finished mounting.
-----“As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man.” (Mat 24:37-39) There are two ways of not knowing. One way is by lack of information. But God gave those people information. Noah was a herald of righteousness. He was not silent. His building the ark itself was information of an impending doom, Noah putting his wealth where his mouth was. The people of Noah’s day turned the same deaf ear to that warning as people turn to God's warnings today. Israel was given information through the prophets. Judah was given information through the prophets and Israel’s example. We are given information through the prophets, the apostles, Jesus Christ Himself, and the examples of Noah, Israel, and Judah. God always warns. It is up to us to turn a listening ear to that information. For the other way of not knowing is by not paying attention to this information God gives.
-----Many people scoff at Revelation in horror. They have not considered the holiness of God brought against the lowest depravity of mankind. In the nicest terms possible, Revelation is God flushing the toilet of mankind’s worst stool day. The reason that flush is so disastrous is because mankind did not humbly flush on a daily basis after every bad idea, but he accumulated it. And worse yet, mankind built in the toilet instead of building upon God’s Word in the sanctuary of His righteousness. It’s one thing to miss a bit of information. It is quite another to miss a world history of information. I have no doubt God will be vomiting some “churches” as He flushes for us.

Love you all,
Steve Corey