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.
I wonder when Christians started trying to complicate salvation so much. God is just, but He is also a God of love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. We are saved by grace through faith, sir. Are you too proud to recieve God's grace? Do you honestly believe that you can achieve salvation through your own means and bypass God's gift? Look inside yourself and truly ponder this question: Is it possible that you complicate God's simple gift in order to feel like you are earning it for yourself?
I am greatly disturbed by the fact that you claim to know that a majority of professed Christians are not truly saved. When did God reach down to you and grant you the authority to judge the souls of others? No one can judge man but God, because He is blameless and the only One with the right to do so. To claim to know the hearts of men is to spit in the Almighty's face, friend.
You walk a dangerous line between enlightenment and pride, brother. I already expect you to rip this post apart to shreds, but I sincerely hope that you will consider these words. Open your heart and mind to the possibility that you could be wrong. To close your mind at such a young age speaks of pride and arrogance. You are not God, so perhaps you still have something left to learn?
"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [therein]. Also I set watchmen over you, [saying], Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what [is] among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, [even] the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. (Jeremiah 6:16-19, KJV)"
I definitely still have much to learn, but what I do know is that G-d is not a liar, and He cannot be mocked. And whatsoever a man sows, that is what he will reap. Those who obey will reap life. The disobedient will reap destruction. If you have a problem with this, you must take it up with G-d.
No one can earn their salvation, nor did I ever say any such thing, but if you won't obey G-d, you have rejected His offer.
And therein lies your problem. Your advice is that I should look inside my self. You are supposed to DENY YOUR SELF, looking instead to G-d by faith in His Son Jesus and HIS INSTRUCTION. And what does Jesus say? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, IF a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. (John 8:51, KJV)"
"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him... Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me... But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:21,23-24,26 KJV)"
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. (John 15:4-10, KJV)"
"He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:6, KJV)"
You don't honestly believe this describes most professing Christians do you?
"...but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. (Matthew 19:21)"
Do you really think that Satan would tell you to obey G-d? Are you really that deceived? I just showed you in Scripture what Jesus (LORD) was referring to. You just called Jesus the Adversary, not me.
JESUS says repent or perish (Luke 13). You need to come to terms with this.
*First you say God did not divorce Israel, so I provide you with a scripture that says explicitly; God divorced Israel. You say it is out of context but fail to explain how..? Looks in context to me.
*Then you take the same scripture I provided with no additional information and interpret my interpretation of the scripture ..based on what?...who knows?...and you judge me as a anti-semitic?...Lol..G-d has not forgotten Israel and neither have I.
*I asked you, "Repent from what?" And I also informed you the phrase "repent of your sins" is not found in scripture. You have been suspiciously silent on the topic.
*I give you a little story to convey a picture of your rush to judgement which really does show the difference between what the Gospel teaches and what you preach....you miss the point entirely!
*Instead you quote the scripture : "And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (John 8:11, KJV)" Like it proves you point?...Look again, Jesus forgave her before she "repented" not after.
*Further more; Jesus said He did not condemn her, by telling her to leave her life of sin Jesus showed he did not condone what she had done.
---Lawabider, I saw right off you are imbalanced. I see no Love or
Grace in your posts, only Law. That is not a accurate reflection of G-d nor of the Gospel that Jesus went to to the Cross for.
"But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood."
I think Paul is summarizing important parts the law of Moses that we should keep. If you look at most of the law of Moses, it was all sacrificial laws, and ceremonial laws, and feast laws, and health laws, 90% of which pointed to Jesus, and the rest kept the people of Israel healthy/safe. Anyway. The overall message I get from Paul is that feasts don't matter, we can keep them or not keep them. Eating food offered to idols doesn't matter, we can or can't, depending on how strong our faith is. Being circumcised doesn't matter, as the circumcision is now "spiritual"(probably still a good idea though, it helps prevent disease, as does most of the law of Msos). Anyway, I'd agree that the 10 commandments still should be kept to teach us God's character and point out sin, but I do not think that the law of Moses is still "required". Keep it if you want to, but don't hold it over my head. I don't believe I'm under it:winksmile:.
