Culture series: "Good is Evil and Evil is Good"

What men are facing in this culture.

"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery."
Any man that marries a divorced woman, and thinks that he is a Christian is fooling himself and allowing himself to be deceived by the world.  Make no mistake, you will not make it, just as the word says:
"Can a man take fire in his bosom?"

If you are married to a divorced woman you are going into your neighbors wife.  Why?
  Because she belongs to her first husband as long as he lives and nothing, I repeat, nothing can change that. What God makes permanent cannot be changed.  He will judge you as an adulterer, unless you repent, and remove yourself from that adulterous relationship, you will suffer the judgement of the hypocrates, where there is weeping, and gnashing of teeth, and anything that you do have will be taken from you and your name will be erased from the book and you will end up being thrown into the lake of fire at the end of all things. I am not saying these things to hurt you, but I am trying to help you understand that God does not judge things the way we do in our human hearts. From the beginning God has given a man his wife for his whole life, she belongs to him, and that cannot be changed.

I am telling you the truth, and not lying when I say that everyone who marries a divorced woman and calls himself a Christian is in reality trying to force his way into the kingdom of God without obeying Jesus' word, and they do not belong to Christ as long as they remain in that adulterous state.
Repent, and flee immorality. Do whats right in the Lord's sight no matter what, and the Lord will help you, and restore you.

Flee immorality you man of God, and turn away from the things of the world that makes us stumble.

And his clothes not be burned?
Or can a man walk on hot coals
And his feet not be scorched?
So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
Whoever touches her will not go unpunished."

 Luke 16:16-17
"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.  But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail."

"He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."


But He also says:
"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."


And also:
Matthew 7:21-23

We as humans, in our own hearts, and minds, are able, and willing to justify anything that we deem necessary to our perceived happiness or survival. We lie to ourselves, and others, and even to God. We, with a great deal of time and effort, fabricate dreams and visions that are tailored to justify and benefit our own selfish and ambitious purposes. The level of depravity in these areas goes way beyond our scope of control and understanding. So that left to our own ways, we are always doomed to failure in our perception of true equity and the reality of our true identity.
Ecclesiastes 5:3

"For the dream comes through much effort and the voice of a fool through many words".

And also in verse 7:

"For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God".

Why else would we have so great a need for the Lord and His word?  Our condition is very serious indeed. In fact, for most people, the seriousness of our condition and the outcome of our complacency is completely hidden and impercievable. We have a tremendous ability to bend and form every situation to accommodate our own will.  The outcome of this behavior is always extremely fatal in the spiritual sense.

Jeremiah 17:9

9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else, And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?"

The answer to this question is: "God does". He understands the depth, scope, and absolute desperation of our situation.  That's why Jesus told His disciples, "With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible."   He also says, "The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

He showed us "The Way" and gave Himself not only as a sacrifice, but also as our example for us to follow. To be a disciple of Christ means to subject oneself to the disciplines of Christ which means to follow Him as your example.

John wrote:

1 John 2:6

"the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

The same manner, meaning what?  Jesus lived as a person that cared more about spiritual things than physical or worldly things.   He was showing us that we need to focus our lives more on the spiritual and less on the physical or temporary.

John also wrote:

1 John 2:15-17

"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

and also:

1 John 2:3-4

"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

The influences of the world can cause us to compromise our faith. For a human being this can happen very easily, keeping in mind that we always try to adjust everything to fit our own agendas and desires.

What are some of the examples of this love for the world and the things in the world?   In what way can the world cause us to compromise our faith and relationship with Jesus?

A very obvious example of a man's faith being compromised by his love for the world is lying.   A man can, because of his percieved need for something mateial like, money, food, clothing or basically anything in the physical world, might cause him to tell a lie in order to acquire something. What is the outcome of his lie?  His lie is considered to be a sin and what is the penalty of his sin?   He must die, unless he acknowledges his sin, and repairs the situation ie: replaces or pays back what he has acquired by falsehood.  This is called repentance.

Lying, cheating and stealing are very obvious sins that befall us when we are compromised by our love for the world and the things in the world. Sometimes our practice of this desire for the things in the world can include all three examples, lying, cheating and stealing.

Those are some of the more simple examples of our sin and how our desires can cause us to form lies to justify our fabrications, dreams and visions which pertain to our love and desire for the world and the things in it. There are other examples of our sins that are not so obvious, the more protected and disguised sin. We need to explore these particular examples at this time to demonstrate the depth of our spiritual confusion. I will speak to men in this example because the bulk of responsibility in these particular examples falls to them.

1 Timothy 5:24-25

"The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed."

Since the most precious thing that a man can possess and love in this life is a woman; we will speak of this first. When I say "possess" that is exactly what I mean and you know what I am speaking of. From the beginning it has always been the responsibility of the man to rule and guide the family (his wife, and children).   You are to guide them and be a good example for them, because you are giving them the ability to see God working in you and thereby showing them God's will for them.   You are to love one another by speaking the truth to one another and holding up God's will as being more important than anyone or anything.

If a man (because of his desires for worldly things) neglects his duty to his wife and children, then he has denied God's will for him and he brings a curse on himself and his family, in so far as he will cause confusion, frustration, sorrow, resentment and even hatred, if the neglect is of a gross nature, like infidelity.  If a man shows this kind of behavior, then he is sinning against God and his family and he will pay the price for his sin and unfortunately will also cause his family to suffer greatly and in many cases they are destroyed because of the confusion that the sin creates.

If the man is not pleased with his wife for whatever reason, and then begins to neglect his wife and children by spending time and resources on other things or people then his wife and children are hurt by this and start to draw away from him.  They start to resent this behavior which causes frustration. This situation can escalate. If the man allows this to continue, then this becomes treachery, and some people have even used this as a vehicle to seperate themselves from their marriage so that they can have someone else. This treachery is not overlooked by God and He will destroy the man who is treacherous against the wife of his youth and his children.  Do not be deceived, if a man drives his wife off because of neglect, or unloving behavior, then he is guilty for what happens to her.  If the woman leaves and marries another man because of this treachery, the first husband that drove her off will be held responsible for her demise.

Also just as serious is the case of the man who makes his wife work a full time job because of his desires for money and material things. It is foolish to do this because the man not only causes his wife to spend her time and attention on a career, simply so they can have more money, but he also has to dump his children off so that they can be raised by other people.  In many cases they are being raised and influenced by unbelieving secular teachings and behavioral modification practices. This is absolutely unacceptable behavior according to Jesus' word. A man who neglects what's right and his family, just so that he can have more money and possessions, is foolish, and destructive, and this man will not advance in his faith because of his love for the world and the things in the world.

But the most serious situation of all, is the man that marries his neighbors wife. Who is your neighbor?  Didn't the Lord Jesus say that everyone is your neighbor?  But what have you done?  You have fallen in love and married your neighbor's wife, the wife of his youth.  Whether he wants her or not, it does not matter, you are sleeping with your neighbors wife.  He married her first and she belongs to him, no matter what she says, or does.  She does not belong to you.  You are an adulterer in God's judgement and you are causing her to stay away from her husband who she loved, even though your intentions may seem noble and lofty, in reality they are not.  There is nothing in this universe that can change the fact that you have your neighbor's wife. This is a great sin, and it destroys many people, especially the children, and family members of all concerned.  Do you not hear the anguish of the children that are crying in the dark?
  

The Lord Jesus said:

Luke 16:18

Proverbs 6:27-29

Jesus said:

Revelation 3:5

Revelation 21:8

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’