Here is my burden, though I am thankful today for the benefits found for all in this country founded on godly principles...

Happy 4th?

What are we celebrating? Is it hot dogs, barbecue or fireworks? (Truth be told for most, even many "Christians" it's just time off to party and enjoy a day/weekend off. Or is it that we are celebrating this great country that just the other day in utter rebellion against a Holy God legalized and celebrated sodomite unions??

Where are the true Christ-followers that praise God for the true and good freedoms we have here, but are sober even then and are like their Lord, deeply and sorely grieved and intolerant of sin, particularly homosexuality and especially of the legalization of sodomite unions??

Who has understanding and fear of God and grief enough to know that their children will be taught in schools that this lifestyle and marriage to their same sex peers is right and proper to pursue in the future??

Imagine Israel celebrating the prescribed holy days when sodomy is allowed to proliferate in the land?

Did God want celebration and dancing or deep and true repentance in dust and ashes?

What did God say in the Word?

******************************************

1 Kings 14:24 (KJV)

"And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel."

Jeremiah 7:22-23 (ESV)

"For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you."

James 4:8-10 (ESV)

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."

Friends, just as Daniel interceded on behalf of the nation and for the sins of his people, so must we.

******************************************

Here is the Fire Bible's Donald Stamps:

"Judah’s spiritual rebellion led to the sins of homosexuality and male prostitution (cf. Ro 1:25-28). God’s people accepted “all the detestable practices of the nations” around them until they were finally conquered–culturally and politically–by those ungodly nations (vv. 25-26). Christ’s words echo the same message of judgment for believers today (see Mt 5:13, note). If God’s people defy his Word and conform to the world’s pattern of ungodly beliefs, behaviors and lifestyles, they too will be ruined by the very things that at first they only tolerated."

******************************************

Romans 1:26-32 (ESV) states:

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

For their Women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;

and the Men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another,

men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.

They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,

they not only do them but give APPROVAL to those who practice them.

******************************************

NOW IN LIGHT OF GOD'S WORD, HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

Happy and able to mingle with the holiday crowd, but grieved a little?

Or grieved enough with disgust and heaviness as God feels - unable to celebrate, but only able to intercede for the inevitable, but brazen move of this nation full of "Christians" who have been lovingly tolerating this aberration of basic humanity and nature, while subscribing to a Jesus that loves you as you are and will never stop loving you?? Is that the Jesus of the Bible?

Remember, God has a limit to how long He will wait before He executes final judgment on sin and the sinner! When they refused to repent, Jesus overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah with a great overthrow with fire and brimstone!

Now, we ought to Speak the Truth in Love to homosexuals and those who support them (as the Lord leads), that God will forgive their sin and make them brand new in Christ if they turn from it (1 Cor 6:9-11, 2 Cor 5:17), but please don't preach a different, "user-friendly" Jesus or perverted Gospel with no warning of painful eternal torment awaiting the sexually immoral and all unrepentant sinners. The Lord Jesus Himself loved us enough to fill His teachings with ample serious warnings for the unrepentant and scornful.

******************************************

HERE IS GOOD LITTLE CHECKLIST for all on Facebook who claim to be Christian:

1) Make sure you are really saved, because you truly live for Jesus and not for yourself and your pleasures and opinions. That is one of the marks of a true disciple of Jesus, which essentially means a true believer, etc.

2) If you are saved, then make sure that you desire and pray for boldness to never ever compromise the Truth of God's Word and God's Feelings on any matter or situation.

******************************************

As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not called to attempt a win in a popularity contest in this world, but rather to live godly and stand for righteousness as Abraham, Noah, Paul etc. did, at all cost. Especially, to let the Lord Jesus live and express Himself through us for the Glory of our Loving God!

TO PLEASE GOD IS BETTER THAN PLEASING PEOPLE OR ONESELF. PRAISE HIS NAME!

Happy Independence Day to all Who love and celebrate the Goodness and Mercy of the God Who blessed this country with so many blessings, delivering it from the tyranny of a godless kingdom centuries ago and to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness in their own personal lives before the Almighty God and in turn agonize in intercession for our godless nation to return to their Great Benefactor and His Ways!

© 2015 Pastor Pradeep Emmanuel Stephen

[Permission is granted to duplicate this article in its entirety, but only without additions, alterations or omissions of any kind, including the author and ministry name at the end.]