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Spiritual Cowards
Posted : 27 Feb, 2011 01:23 PM
Thoruhg much of Paul's wrtings, he tells us about some apostles and disciples who deserted him out of fear,because he took a hard nose stand to defend the gospel against the opposition, and cared less whether he lived or died, or went to prison ofr preaching and teaching what God had given him.
He also instills this strength in Timothy, and charges him with encourgement throughout his letters to Timothy, to preach and teach the gospel in season (meaning when its proper and feels good to the hearer) and out of season (meaning when its not proper and does not feel good to the hearer), without compromise. Because "God has not given us a spirit (this means that fear is a spirit) of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
In Revelation chapter 21, God tell us the the fearful (cowardly) and unbelieving will not inherit the kingdom of God.
So just what is a COWARD?: A coward is a person who yeilds to fear of pain or harm, a person who lacks courage to take a stand for what is right, timidity, is spineless, yellow, and compomises to keep peace out of fear of being rejected by others.
Here are two excerpts from sermons on being a spiritual coward.
Excerpts from Pastor Mark Downey's Sermon
"The Ungodliness of Being A Coward"
�Woe to the scribes, men of letters, who mold opinion as a potter with clay 'because they shut off the Kingdom of Heaven from men and prevent people from entering the government of God'. When a coward pretends to exercise the authority of God's Word and it is merely self-righteousness, I guarantee you from the Bible that their pretentious perspective of wonderfulness will receive the greater damnation and judgment. 'God bless America'? Not if we're cursed with cowards, a cancer of fraudulent leadership. When the talking heads (or is it tails? � remember in cartoon theology, the devil has a tail) tell us not to judge, what they are really telling us is to not try or test the spirit to see if it is of God. That would spoil their celebration of compromise and perversion.
Nobody has a free pass or pardon from sin other than from the blood of Christ. The power of a lie can have people in abject submission, quivering in fear, but it is the truth that sets us free. A coward will exploit love for all the wrong reasons and in so doing, is not cultivating honor or virtue, but rather the rotten spiritless poltroon that is spoiling our race and faith.
We stand on the prism of a new millennium in which we Christians speak and act upon the wisdom of the ages bearing witness of that light that shineth in darkness. I say, give the cowards no quarter, because there is no panacea as effective for the paradigm of Christian revival than the wholehearted defiance against the enemies of Jesus Christ and that includes the cryptic oxymoron of judeo-churchianity and the heretical mutations of Christian Identity. No matter how much we offend those who are always offended at the slightest hint of truth, let us offend with the perspective that people have been offended for the last 2000 years. What prevents us from entering the Kingdom of Heaven is the ungodliness of cowards. Do we become someone's enemy because we tell them the truth? Obviously such was the case with Jesus whom they murdered. Indeed, Christianity has survived because of its martyrs. The circumstances surrounding the crucifixion are an excellent example of cowardice on all sides....
The problem we have today with people who call themselves Christians and betray Christ at every opportunity for self gain is that they don't, or can't or won't recognize their cowardice, and if they do, there is no shame, no choking tears and certainly no repentance or change of heart. That is ungodliness approaching a reprobate mind.�
Excerpts From Pastor Roger William's Sermon
�Spiritual Cowards�
Too many people are the products of preachers who play games with the word of God.The Scripture says they must be ready to preach the word whether the time is right or not. They are to point out errors, warn people, encourage them and be patient when they teach 2 Timothy 4:2. Go into many churches today and you will observe smilers in the pulpit majoring (with great patience!) on �encourage-ment,� at the expense of pointing out errors and bringing warnings.
They don�t do that � or if they do, it�s done in an almost apologetic manner, resulting in the people failing to get the seriousness of what�s said. These men and women are what I call spiritual cowards. Spiritual cowards love to appeal to people�s senses, reasons, opinions and imaginations � all the time failing to understand that God has nothing whatsoever to say to them. Unless a person is willing to humble themselves before God and turn to Him for for-giveness of sin in Jesus Christ, God has nothing further to say accept, �I love you, but you are lost in your sin and will continue to be throughout eternity.� That is also what God is saying to us in John 3:16.
Spiritual cowards can stand in pulpits, forever smiling as they talk of God�s love, grace, mercy, patience and forgiveness, but that�s the extent of it. You won�t hear them preach on God�s hatred of sin and forthcoming judgement.
As a new Christian I was deeply impressed by the words of a writer, who said that in the Scriptures we have a spiritual letter from God telling us what He wants us to do. We don�t change the contents or the interpretations of that letter because our minds don�t understand it, or like it. It was an old book, even back then. I wonder what would he think today! Another common trait among spiritual co-wards, they are people pleasers. They express more fear of people than they do of God. They will not preach the hard things knowing that if they do so there�s every chance the people will stop their financial giving or even worse � leave the church. Possible loss of finances is a risk they are not willing to take....
Speaking of people pleasers, a few years ago I attended an evening meeting to view and discuss a proposed �seeker-friendly� video Bible course that the pastor showed great enthusiasm for. Like most of those studies, it was based on the needs of unbelievers more than the needs (will, commands) of God. The pastor (smiling) asked the group something like, �If you have the unchurched among you and are about to have a meal, do you believe it a good idea to say grace & give thanks to God, or remain silent?� The majority of the group believed it would be too threatening to the unbelievers, opting therefore to remain silent. I strongly disagreed. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, what better witness? was my question.
That pastor did not like my response in the slightest! It cut across his unspoken viewpoint. Spiritual cowards often refrain from sharing their true viewpoints until they first find out those of others. They work hard at giving impressions that they�re Christ-followers, but once again, the harder they work the greater the sham. I don�t know if they went ahead with the course but I do know that like all churches that please people more than they please God, it is spiritually dead. Lots of activity, but very little of it �according to knowledge.� Unlike the people of Israel however, they are not altogether ignorant of God�s righteousness, they simply prefer the establishment of their own Romans 10:2-3.
It grieves me that so many Christians devalue the Bible God has given us. In my opinion there�s no greater treasure than to be told by Jesus, �You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.� John 15:3 That means, however, if we don�t value the Bible, we are dirty � regardless of how religious we believe we are. This truth and principle needs to be fully grasped by all who declare allegiance to God in Jesus� name. It�s very difficult to hear or discern divine guidance if one is not clean before God. Just like a rusty water tap gives hindrance to a healthy, vibrant flow of water - so too a rusty, dirty, self-willed spirit, soul and body.It is time for Christians to come out from sitting under smiling, spiritual cowards.Time is short and it is time to get real.
It is time to renounce all that cuts us off from receiving the vibrant, vital flow from God. There can be no room for compromise. The narrow way is the only pathway to fulfillment in any person�s life. If it were any different, the Lord Jesus Christ would not have chosen to come to die in our place on that cross. He would have simply left us to our own religious devices, smiling at our efforts. �But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.� 2 Timothy 2:20-21.
What say you?
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