Monday, June 29, 2015

When the Lord Hides the Truth

Recently, we’ve been seeing a lot of the hashtag #lovewins. We know that love wins, but what does that look like? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not parish but have everlasting life.” That’s what it looks like coming from God, but what does it look like coming from us? Jesus died for the gay man as much as he did for anyone else, but most of us are not called to die or give our family members over to death in order to show our love for the homosexual. What can we do?

Among some of the other posts I’ve seen recently, I saw the video below of Adrian Rogers concerning the most terrifying passage in the Bible.

Must see: One of the Most Terrifying Verses. This short video is almost 3 minutes, but please watch it all. Very powerful from Dr. Rogers.

Posted by Love Worth Finding Ministries on Friday, June 26, 2015

This passage doesn’t apply solely to homosexuality, but it includes it. Think about what it means that God himself has sent strong delusion to people, so they won’t turn from their sin and accept Jesus Christ. We see a similar statement in Romans 1:26, in which God gave people over to their vile affections. It reminds me of a story told in 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18, in which he wanted Ahab to fall in battle at Ramothgilead. Many of the host of heaven offered suggestions, but a spirit stood before the Lord and said, “I will persuade him. I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.” So the Lord commissioned that spirit to go do that.

I’ve always liked that passage, because it gives us a picture of heaven and how the host of heaven function. But I’ve wondered whether a lying spirit is a servant of the Lord or one of those Satan took with him during his fight for power. In looking at the II Thessalonians 2 passage, it appears this lying spirit may we be from the Lord. Consider also that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart when the children of Israel were preparing to leave Egypt. There are many instances in the Bible in which the Lord caused people to do things that resulted in self destructive behavior, but always because they had already rejected him.

My first thought was, if the Lord has sent strong delusion, then why should I bother with these people? I state my beliefs and they respond by calling me names and criticizing my beliefs. They claim that the Bible and Christianity is the work of men. Though the preponderance of evidence points to the truth of the Bible, they refuse to accept it as true. Isn’t this evidence that the Lord has clouded their mind to hide the truth from them? Nothing I can say will convince them if the Lord has sent delusion or hardened their hearts.

But does that mean there is no hope and we should just give up? Is this the “sin unto death?” I don’t believe so, or we wouldn’t see homosexuals being saved. We do see some sin in the Bible that resulted in a quick death. Ananias and Sapphira died when they lied to the Holy Spirit about their gift to the church. Some men who opposed Moses were killed when they tried to do the priestly duties. A man died when he touched the Ark of the Covenant. Herod was killed by an angel when he allowed people to describe him as a god. In these cases, I don’t think there’s a thing we could’ve done, but the homosexuals are still alive for a reason.

I think back to the story of Moses when the Lord looked at the wickedness of Israel and was ready to kill them all and let the promise be fulfilled through Moses. Moses pleaded with the Lord to not destroy those people and the Lord changed what he was going to do. Now, let’s consider what that means in the current situation. The Lord is sending strong delusion to not only the people involved in homosexuality, but the people involved in many other sins across our nation. Because of that strong delusion, they will not accept Christ. But if we pray for these people, it may well be that the Lord will remove the strong delusion. Our prayers, just like the prayers of Moses, can change the mind of God. The thing that is missing is the prayers of righteous men and women. Your prayers are more important than you realize.

Remember the stoning of Stephen? The man we know as Paul was there. The people stopped their ears, because they didn’t want to be persuaded by his preaching. But Stephen, with his dying breath prayed a prayer, “Lord, charge not this sin against them.” Had it not been for that prayer, Paul may have never had another opportunity to accept Christ. The Lord is sending strong delusion, but our prayers can convince him to turn that delusion into persuasion.