I love you, so I'm going to tell you some hard truth, as it is written "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. (Leviticus 19:17, KJV)"
My profile was getting crowded with much of this, so I'm putting it here instead for those who are truly seeking, who are really searching for G-d's Will. I don't know everything. Far from it. But this I do know: Most professing Christians are not going to make it. Sadly.
As I'm entering this, one of the random women suggestions above, which CDfF.com has delivered, is a picture not of a woman, but of a black square instead, which contains the words "ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME". How appropriate. Indeed, this is the prevailing attitude of this wicked generation, who thinks they can live however they like without incurring His Judgment. Most of us will not hear the Truth. The sad fact is that GOD WILL JUDGE YOU if you refuse to repent of your sin. You are supposed to work out your salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING (Philippians 2:12).
Personally, I'm not looking for a Christian woman, at least not what is common among 'Christianity'. I'm looking for a follower of G-d's Messiah, whose priority is truly following Him rather than men; following Christ Jesus by the Spirit of Christ and in accordance with what is written... not a denomination, not a pastor, not the latest teaching, nor your feelings, nor your friends, and certainly not the majority of professing Christians. Christianity is plagued with traditions of men that nullify the commandment of G-d, which Christ Jesus HATES (See Mark 7:7-9). "But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. (Matthew 15:13, KJV)" To have a hope, we must give Him our lives, and if you've given Him your life, it's no longer yours to do with as you please. It's His.
Most people I come across who profess to be Christians are not really following Christ Jesus. To someone who is really in Messiah, it is very obvious. When you truly step out of the world, it is shocking to see how a part of the world the overwhelming majority of professing Christians are in the world; integral. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, most professing Christians don't even realize they are not actually following Christ, but the sad truth of the matter is that most professing Christians follow man, and, sadly, are headed straight for destruction as a result. It very well could be that you are just such a person, even likely, so let this be a warning to you if you hear His voice as you read this. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
The Master says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (ANOMIA; LAWLESSNESS!). (Matthew 7:21-23, KJV)" Not all believers are "saved," despite what man will tell you. As James says, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:19-20, KJV)"
"Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all [ye] workers of ANOMIA. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you [yourselves] thrust out. (Luke 13:23-28, KJV)"
The Master says, "If any will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow ME. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. (Luke 9:23-24, KJV)" If you really follow him, frankly, you will hardly fit in anywhere. As He says, "Because ANOMIA will abound, the love of many will wax cold. (Matthew 24:12)" "My sheep respond to my voice, and I know who they are. (John 10:27, KJV)" If your goal is to fit in with most Christians and have a nice cozy life --- if your goal is to fit in at the average church --- sorry, you're not really following the Master. It's time to wake up people.
So what's the difference between the real believer and the imposter? We should be in the world, not of the world, set apart by His Spirit, WHOLLY OBEDIENT TO HIS COMMANDMENT. We do not pick and choose which commandments to obey. The soul that abides in sin shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). Unfortunately, most Christians fail to understand what, precisely, sin is. Sin is transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4), as given to Israel by G-d through His humble servant Moses. And it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before G-d, but the doers of the Law will be justified (Romans 2:13). Being Jewish doesn't matter, nor being Gentile; what matters is that you become a new creation in Messiah, who keeps the commandment of G-d (Galatians 6:15, 1 Corinthians 7:19)! The LORD changes not!
Fellowship and worship on the first day of the week if you like, but don't reject the G-d-given 7th day Sabbath, nor His feasts, and stop eating what is not food, stop celebrating pagan festivals. Wives, be reconciled to your husbands or remain alone. Stop believing the lie that G-d's grace means it's okay to sin, or that you cannot sin in Messiah even though you do! Don't be absurd. This passage in John's epistle means you are not in Messiah if you abide in sin! If you are truly in Messiah, you cannot abide sin just as HE CANNOT ABIDE SIN! He who says he abides in Messiah and lives in sin is a liar and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:4)! Don't be deceived. Unless you repent, you will perish (Luke 13:3,5).
Some follow Rome, some follow Luther, some John Calvin... some THINK they follow Paul, but 'Is Christ divided?' as Paul so aptly said (1 Corinthians 1:10-15). Blessed are they, rather, who hear the Word of God and obey (Luke 11:28). Traditions are unacceptable if they nullify the Law of God in any way. THAT is the test. As He said: I have not come to destroy the Law. Whoever breaks one of the least of these instructions will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven, and unless your righteousness in these matters exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you certainly will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:17-20)! But hey, believe what you will. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:15).
So let's love Him every day with all our hearts, souls, minds, resources, and love our neighbours as ourselves. Interestingly, those two instructions are not found in the Ten Commandments, but elsewhere in the Law; in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus respectively! That fact should speak volumes to you about the accuracy of the common understanding of the words of Jesus ('We must keep the Ten Commandments...'). It's true, but not the way most people mean to say. As it is written, 'The commandment is a lamp and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. (Prov. 6:23)' Do you have one without the other? Or have you not then turned the lamp off??!
So what did Jesus mean when he said the most important commandment of all is 'HEAR O Israel' (Mk. 12). Most professing Christians prefer to quote this occurrence as it appears in Matthew, which leaves this critical demand out. Most, I find, tend to say '...as long as I love God and love my neighbour, it's all good, even if I choose not to live entirely by the Word,' but WHAT IS LOVE? How do we know whether or not we love? The word translated in Mark 12 as HEAR (SHEMA, see Deut. 6, which means HEAR/LISTEN/OBEY) is the key to love. As John says, 'the love of God is that we keep His commandment, and his commandment are not grievous. (1 John 5:3)' And likewise, 'By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandment. (1 John 5:2)'
How do we know, then, that a husband loves his wife, and a wife her husband? What about their children? A son his parents? Parents their children? Hopefully you guessed it hopefully... So don't forget SHEMA! When we SHEMA to the best of our ability, we THEREFORE love God and love our neighbour; and you can then know, therefore, that you will love your husband or wife as yourself. If this sounds insane to you, then you haven't yet really met Jesus. Search for him. Search for him with all your heart and you will find him.
And stop following men! Follow Jesus! Meditate on the Scriptures, seeking the illumination that only the Word of G-d can provide by His Spirit, and act on it! Stop paying heed to your frivolous feelings, attributed to the Holy Spirit, that are not consistent with Scripture ('I feel like the Spirit is telling me it is okay to not obey this time...'). The heart is deceitful above all and desparately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1).
Feel free to message me if you have any questions. G-d willing, He will give me the wisdom to respond appropriately. But please, the above is Scripture. If you don't agree, take it up with Jesus.
P.S. To the divorced on here, I'm curious what you think:
How do you interpret the words of Jesus? ...maybe no one has brought your attention to these words before:
In Luke 16:18 and Matthew 5:32 (see also Mark 10:10), Jesus is recorded as saying he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. (ESV)
Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 7:11, Jesus says through the Apostle Paul "To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife."
Just prior to that, Paul writes the following:
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral....will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
I'm just doing the math here. It seems pretty logical to me, but maybe I'm missing something... The LORD says marrying a divorced woman is committing adultery, which is sexual immorality, and Paul warns us that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Continue to call me names if you like. First I am a false prophet, and now you say I am like one of the children you tea. Who's being childish here, calling names?
"Would you feel better if I just wrote chapters and just leave out verses?"
I would feel better if you quoted Scripture in context, including what is related to what is being said by the speaker, and not pulling one verse out to use against me, which in context is no slam against me at all. The verse you intended to use against me is talking about false prophets who teach disobedience to the Law of Moses, which is actually a direct reference to false prophets as defined in Deuteronomy 13. Since my whole point here is that you are in grave danger if you reject the Law of Moses, this quite obviously does not apply to me. Try to pay closer attention.
And you're making assumptions about my motives and slandering me now also. Wow, how right you right are! To answer your question about whether or not I maliciously looked at your profile to gather ammo to use against you, show me please where I did this... you cannot because I did not. Guess it's time to repent of your slander. Lord, please have mercy on her.
I wonder then, LawAbidingCitizen, why you choose to spend time here, with so many divorced people. Does not a little leaven ruin the entire loaf?
I read TwoSparrows's "to/from" distinction to mean that turning to Jesus is the point of the Gospel. Turning to Christ involves turning from sin. One cannot do the former without the latter.
The purpose of the Law is to point out to us our need for a Saviour. To show us that we absolutely cannot "make it" on our own, that we need a Redeemer.
I have been redeemed, and I am eternally grateful. I consider these to be the two most important (and inclusive of all others) commandments of the Law: a) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. b) You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Coincidentally*, these also sum up how we are to behave under Grace.
I am not here to disrespect my elders. You're the one who came out guns blazing. And I have answered you frankly, according to Scripture. You make this about age, when it is only about age in your mind. I have no idea how old you are. All I see is a picture of a dog with a Santa Claus hat, and your username. So get over it. You are not right simply because you are older than I am, nor do I have to accept your error.
I have not refused to be corrected with Scripture, in context. On the contrary, I gladly accepted Scriptural correction earlier in an exchange with someone else. But as for you, you merely give me your opinion, and unfortunately your opinion is not consistent with Scripture, which earns you no credibility in this conversation at all. Hence, I have not accepted correction from you.
You're wrong about Miriam and you're wrong about alcohol.
First of all, what does it say of Joseph?
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, [BEING RIGHTEOUS], and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. (Matthew 1:18-19, KJV)"
What did the angel say Joseph's mind? It was okay to marry her even though she had slept with another man and was with child? Or was it because the Holy Spirit had conceived a child within her?
"But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 1:20, KJV)"
In any case, you asked me if I would marry a woman who had a child, not whether or not I believed this was consistent with the will of G-d. I told you that I personally would not marry a woman who had a child, so even if you were right about Joseph and Miriam, which you are not, you still have not caught me in error.
But by your own admission, you are trying to set me up. So who is being malicious here?
But your so-called setup is meaningless...
Again, I asked you to show me where Scripture says we are not permitted to drink alcohol. What was your answer? That your brother is an alcoholic. This is exactly what I'm talking about. I am not required to submit to the correction of any man's TRADITION which nullifies what is written. If your brother is an alcoholic, then your brother should not drink. This does not concern me.
And what does Scripture say about alcohol? If there is even a single verse in the Bible that drinking alcohol is permitted by G-d, then you are wrong about this, and there is more than one. For example:
"He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine [that] maketh glad the heart of man, [and] oil to make [his] face to shine, and bread [which] strengtheneth man's heart. (Psalm 104:14-15, KJV)"
But Jesus turned water into wine, so you can't even say that it was once okay in the Old Testament, but now that Christ has come it is no longer okay to drink in moderation. You have no basis in Scripture for your criticism of me because I have one or two drinks on occasion.
But as you say, you are trying to set me up. Is this the love of Christ that you were telling me about previously?
Thanks for your question. My take on these verses is that they do not nullify anything that is written in G-d's Law (the Law of Moses), which the Word of G-d himself gave to the covenant community of G-d through His servant Moses.
This instruction includes "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. (Leviticus 19:17, KJV)" These words in G-d's Law are found in the verse immediately preceding the verse that states "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:18, KJV)".
It strikes me that Peter was jealous of the relationship that John has Jesus and that he perceives that John is or will be more blessed that he is. Jesus tells him to concern himself with following Him, which Peter obeys, which includes his submission to the instruction above mentioned of not suffering sin upon others when they are in error, or even in danger of being in error, as he warns in 2 Peter 3:14-17 (KJV),
"14Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
16As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness."
As I've pointed out here a few times, the word translated above as WICKED is from the Greek word ATHESMOS, which means "one who breaks through the restraint of law..."
In this way and others, Peter obeyed Jesus when he said, "You follow me!"
I don't have to quote you. You have repeatedly implied that repentance does not necessarily equate with turning from sin, and it is precisely this that we have been talking about recently at length.
You are correct about the purpose of the Law being to point us to Christ, so shall we now sin because we know Who Christ is and are now under Grace?
If "Yes," see above.
If "No," great, we agree.
Indeed love is the most important part about the Law. The whole Law is a HOW TO about loving G-d and a HOW TO about loving your neighbor, so that you can know that you do indeed love.
"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:3, KJV)"
You are the one who is fault finding here, not me. But you are not as clever as you think you are, nor have you found me in error as you say. All this while, you've been trying to trap me, unsuccessfully, and now that you are tired of making yourself look foolish, you are being untruthful about our exchange. It is not I who needs to repent.
How long did it take you before you said to me (and errantly I might add), "Judaizer, can't wait for your teaching on circumcision!" Just itching to judge me personally, and when one approach didn't work for you, you moved onto the next. I, however, have at no time looked for a way to trap you. You have commented and I have responded frankly. Now you're complaining that I am misrepresenting you, but it is you that is bearing false witness about me. You better take a long hard look in the mirror!
Did you or did you not write the following?
"You are certianly correct about the word repent being found in the Gospel. But repent from what? I assume you think it means to repent from your sins? I would disagree, for one,the Gospel does not use that wording anywhere, ie : nowhere does it say; "repent of your sins" in connection with the Gospel. ----wish I could see the look on your face about now : )"
Don't tell me that I misunderstood. No my contentious neighbor, I understood you perfectly well. You were saying that you disagree that repent means FROM SIN because no where do the writers of the NT word it precisely as you have written, "repent of your sins." But repent has ALWAYS meant both turning TO G-D and FROM SIN and if you weren't so busy trying to divide Scripture into Old and New, then and now, you would see how foolish you sound. The only reason you don't see it is because you don't want to see it. You don't want the Gospel to require that you turn from your sin, but you were mistaken to begin with and you are still mistaken now, and now you are taking your slander to the next level, trying to defame my character. No my contentious neighbor, it is not I who needs to repent here.
But worst of all, you defamed G-d's character in response to an exchange I was having with @joeysings, who said "God Himself divorced Israel and grafted in or married Himself to the gentiles. He does remarry Israel in the end, so who is to say He does not allow marriage to someone else, when He did it?"
That is BLASPHEMY, and I told her she was wrong, because G-d never went and married the Gentiles and then WILL remarry Israel in the end, as she was saying, at some future time. This was NEVER the case. He gave Israel her certificate of divorce and remarried her PROMPTLY when she TURNED FROM HER SIN TO HIM. And now Gentiles are grafted into ISRAEL, and G-d is still married to Israel. Paul and all of the other writers of the NT are Israelites! And there has always been a faithful remnant.
Divorcing one, marrying another, and returning to the first wife is not lawful according to G-d's Law. @joeysings was way off, and you with her when you defended her position that G-d would brake his own righteous Law.
"When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give [it] in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's [wife]. And [if] the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth [it] in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her [to be] his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that [is] abomination before the LORD:"
- Deuteronomy 24:4, KJV
G-d never took a new wife. He accepted Israel back. You have twisted the Scriptures and defamed the character of G-d! And now you are calling me a liar!
And then you moved on to twisting Paul's words, even implying that I'm cursed for preaching obedience to G-d's Law, saying "The scripture goes on [after Galatians 1:6-7] but out of respect I will not post it, but suggest you read the following verse" not realizing that you really have no idea what Paul is actually talking about in Galatians. To this I responded in some detail and you had nothing to say.
Then you told a cute little story picturing me with the crowd that wanted to stone the adulterous woman, when in reality I am am not part of that crowd, I am warning the adulterous woman, now after she has been blessed with the grace and mercy off G-d from Jesus, who has returned to her life of sin, that if she continues in adultery, that she will reap destruction. BIG DIFFERENCE! Jesus said "Go and sin no more." He did not condemn her, but you better believe she will be condemned in the end if, after receiving the Grace of G-d, she failed to turn from her sin! But you say that I missed the point entirely. No my contentious neighbor, you have again missed the point entirely. Jesus extended the grace of G-d and told her to STOP SINNING.
Then you moved on to lying about what Jesus taught, saying "Your message of "Repent or Perish" is the message of John the Baptist, it is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This nothing more than a New Testament Phariseeism." As I already inserted above for you, the words of Jesus in Luke 13 prove in no uncertain terms that Jesus means for you to repent FROM SIN. But now 'I misunderstood because I don't have the Spirit', and you have even resorted to trying to use the fact that I quote Scripture against me!
Then your attack became the fact that I was busy responding to others and not you, likening this to your twisted reasoning that I don't pay attention to Jesus because I also obey HIS LAW, as though you can have one without the other! You say, "You focus on what has been given instead of what is given now," again implying the OLD is somehow opposed to the NEW!
IT IS NOT!
And where does it end, the same place you were always headed, "Even now you are condemned by the law!" No my contentious neighbor, I do not stand condemned. I do and teach G-d's instruction contained in the LAW, even down to the least of them, as JESUS has instructed me to do. And you have persecuted me because of this all along.
From my first post here, my position has been that it is a grave error to reject any part of the written Law of G-d, and you have proven yourself to be most contentious in response to this basic position time and time again. All along you have been trying to find fault and trying to defame my character. But you have not once succeeded. If anything, you have seriously called your own credibility into question.
Nevertheless, I do not wish that you perish though you are so quick to condemn me. For this reason I have been warning you all along: Repent, turning TO G-D and FROM SIN, and you will live.
Thank you for finally quoting me accurately, now I can see exactly what part of my posts you misunderstand. Much appreciated.
Now, let's get to reality; I do not refuse to turn from sin, you know virtually nothing about me, I can just about guarantee you that I have turned from more sin then you have even committed, therefore I speak from experience. I grew up under the law to the age of 27. I know from the written word and from experience that the law is powerless to give new life. I also know that turning from sin does not bring new life. It only is when you turn to Jesus that you are given new life and freed from your sin.
How very ironic of you... "you know virtually nothing about me, I can just about guarantee you that I have turned from more sin then you have even committed"
I never said you will be saved by keeping the Law, but unless you repent you will perish. Stop wasting my time with your contentiousness.
