Hello Guys and Gals,
Do you know the definition of Blasphemy? The most common definition is also the most misunderstood one: taking the name of the Lord in vain. Why is it misunderstood? Because through translation, traditional teaching, misapplication, and just a general ignorance of scripture, it is not understood in it's purest understanding. Yet if you break down that statement into the plainest understanding of the language, you have a very clear understanding of blasphemy.
Taking (using) the name of the Lord (Jesus Christ, YHWH, Jehovah) in vain (in your own vanity)! This breakdown of the language leads me to believe that the most common definition of blasphemy is simply: taking the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, upon yourself for the sake of your own vanity in the eyes of the world; or calling yourself a Christian without an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ!
Do you know that to truly be a Christian, it is not just saying some magical words one day in church that were given to you by some church leader, who may be a false christian themselves, in order to obtain mercy from God!
Do you know that one of the main teachings of the Emergent Church today is that when Jesus Christ came and was crucified for our sins upon the cross, that he is no longer a God of wrath as in the Old Testament, but rather changed into a God of Love and did away with His wrath forever?
Let us take a look at that thought then.
First, the whole of scripture is replete with the knowledge that God does not change:
29 Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not man who changes his mind.” ~ 1 Samuel 15:29 HCSB.
34 I will not violate My covenant or change what My lips have said. ~ Psalms 89:34 HCSB.
12 You will roll them up like a cloak, and they will be changed like a robe.But You are the same,and Your years will never end. ~ Hebrews 1:12 HCSB.
21 but He became a priest with an oath made by the One who said to Him:The Lord has sworn,and He will not change His mind,You are a priest forever. ~ Hebrews 7:21 HCSB.
But is God now a God of Love excluding His wrath from the cross forward? Does God's wrath no longer apply?
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. ~ Romans 1:18-25 HCSB.
25 Make sure that you do not reject the One who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected Him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven. 27 This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what is not shaken might remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. ~ Hebrews 12:25-29 HCSB.
Not only do these two passages of New Testament scripture testify to the wrath of God, but is this Emergent Church forgetting about the wrath to come given in the Revelation of John the Apostle?
And yet, people still believe that God can be a God of Love and no longer be a God of Wrath. I ask the question of what good does the love of God do for you if it does not save you from the wrath of God that is to come? If there is no more wrath in God, and there is no wrath to come, what good is the love of God? Is it only for a hug? That is the picture which the Emergent Church is putting forth as the new concept of Christ: that He only seeks to love and no longer has any wrath toward anyone in the world.
Well, if a hug is all that is needed, take twenty dollars and go down to the street corner, find yourself a whore and get yourself a hug! Once you have that hug, be content in your life for you have no need to fear God's wrath, for it no longer exists... right?
Or am I blaspheming the god of the world too much with my politically incorrect statement of calling bullcrap on the Emergent Church's doctrine?
The simple fact remains that, without the wrath of God, specifically the wrath of God to come (in the future and soon), there is no longer any need for the love of God!
Well if God does not change, and He is still a God of wrath as He is in the Old Testament, then He would not make void the need for His grace and love by doing away with His wrath!
It is because of His righteous wrath, the wrath that is rightly deserved by a sinful world, the wrath that is to come against all the sin in the world and in the church of false believers calling themselves by the name of my Lord Jesus Christ without an intimate relationship with him, the wrath that has being held in check by the true members of the church praying that all who seek may find salvation by having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ; it is because of this very wrath of God that our NEED for the grace and love of God exists!
God's grace is extended to us all so that we may escape the wrath that is to come for God would not want any to perish but He must maintain His holiness by dispensing justice rightly to any who transgress against Him; and only those who come to Him on their knees begging for Him to grant unto them His grace which He has made available to all; are they able to escape the wrath of God that is to come upon a sinful world for our rebellion against Him!
Sadly, those who end up in Gehenna, the Lake of Eternal Fire, and become separated from God, are those who choose to remain in their rebellion and slavery to sin and Satan, rather than submit themselves to Jesus Christ in order to gain salvation and find true freedom in life by being in an intimate relationship with Him!
Choose this day whom you will serve! As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord Jesus Christ!
May God bless you all this day!
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