In Reply to: Thanks for your reply posted by Thinker on January 03, 2003 at 22:28:03:
As long as we are looking unto Jesus we can have peace and joy and faith (with understanding) even in the midst of the temporary evil circumstances we all encounter. The Lord is absolutely sovereign and Satan can do absolutely nothing unless the Lord allows it. The truth about evil in the world can be a very grievious revelation, an overwhelming thing, unless we draw close to the Lord and assure our hearts before Him. We can't however afford to be ignorant of Satan's devices, because if we are, we can be used by him, just like he did use us through Mo. We can't have the Lord's blessing on us if we continue in evil, and Satan knows that, so he tries to seduce Christians using fancy bait that even takes advantage of our desires to serve God. (That trick certainly worked for Mo.) We can only serve God by faithfully obeying His Word, and not some blind vain religious leader trying to glorify himself. It not a good thing however to allow our minds to dwell on evil, there is no life there, and in addition, Satan will try to make himself appear powerful and wise, when the scriptural record shows that he is neither, especially when compared to the Lord.
As long as we depart from evil and trust in the Lord, we will have His blessing, both here and in the hereafter. However many, through ignorance or weakness are entangled in evil because Satan can make evil appear good in order to deceive and destroy peoples lives. In the Family he deceived many into thinking they could serve God by engaging in behavior that the Lord has expressly forbidden in His Word. It is not possible to have a relationship with Jesus and still involve oneself in gross evil. The blessing of the Lord will depart from them, and the devil will run their lives. If we refuse to abide in God's ways, there are not many options left open. There are too many Christians walking around with rose colored glasses on, big smiles, praising God, singing songs, and yet they are not obeying the Lord, and they are drifting under the control of false prophets and false teachers. Their efforts end up going into building up some silly religious empire, spreading total foolishness and in some cases outright blasphemies. Just say a little sinners pray, and continue after sin, don't worry, be happy, eat drink and be merry, stand around and watch your neighbours slide into Hell, and wait to be raptured out - from in front of your TV set. Devil, devil , devil, devil. What a rude awaking they are going to get. Just recently the Promise Keepers had a big rally in Washington DC. and didn't discern any wrong about bowing down before that gigantic image of Baal (That big obelisk.) The devil must be rolling around in laughter. It is a false gospel that says you can be saved without departing from evil. But that's the gospel of the, 'apostasy', that the Holy Spirit tells us will take place just before the appearance of the, 'anti-christ', the, 'man of sin'. Let everyone that nameth the name of Jesus Christ, depart from iniquity. The Lord bless you and deliver you out of all sin. Praise God!
(ps The first thing the antichrist United Nations did after being formed was to establish the nation of Israel in fullfilment of the Lord's promise) :)