Tag Archives: adultery

A Canceled Golden Wedding Anniversary

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Posted by in Bible Study, Heartbreak

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“It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. ~ Matthew 5:31-32, TLV

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I speak to those who know law), that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if the husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law—so she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were made dead to the Torah through the body of Messiah, so that you might be joined to another—the One who was raised from the dead—in order that we might bear fruit for [YeHoVaH]  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions that came through the Torah were working in our body parts to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the law, having died to what confined us, so that we serve in the new way of the Ruach and not in the old way of the letter. ~ Romans 7:1-6, TLV

The haiku in the above image is about me. I got married on August 13, 1971. On July 16, 1998, my husband divorced me. As a result, the 23 years plus a month of marriage that should have been were canceled – scratched. That is why I won’t be celebrating my golden wedding anniversary this year (2021) on August 13.

It saddens me to have been denied this great milestone. My sadness is what motivated me to write my Torn Asunder (What Happens When YeHoVaH’s Will Is Ignored) manuscript that I hope to publish before the end of 2021. Concerning my divorce, in my manuscript’s introduction, I state, “ I truly believe that what YeHoVaH joined together was amputated by the state of Virginia’s separation and divorce laws. This man-caused amputation is what brings me down every year around the first week of August.”

I also mention in my manuscript’s introduction that the focus of my fictional novel is on YeHoVaH’s Directive Will – what He wants His Sons and Daughters to do or where He wants them to go – as His Directive Will pertains to the institution of marriage. Additionally, I write:

What YeHoVaH wants the couples He joined in marriage to do has affected countless lives since Adam and Eve, in one way or another. The worst way His biblical truth about marriage has manifested is the inevitable tragedy that happens whenever the married couples He joined allow life’s difficulties to tear them asunder (rip their one flesh into pieces).

Some paragraphs later, I write:

YeHoVaH declares in His Word that the married couples who are one flesh in Him only can be safely and wholly separated by death. Any other kinds of separations, whether legal or otherwise, will mean that these worldly separated and then divorced married couples have been put asunder – have had their spirits and their souls’ emotions, wills, and minds forcefully ripped into pieces. Being ripped into pieces is the very thing that YeHoVaH never wanted His married one flesh couples to experience. Nevertheless, that is what happens when the couples He married are divorced according to the laws that each state has established. Torn asunder couples,  thus, are neither safely nor wholly detached or disconnected.

My final quotation from my manuscript’s introduction brings this blog entry to a spiritually profound ending. In my introduction’s conclusion, I write:

Regardless of whether my former spouse meant to be joined to me permanently, divinely, and spiritually by his spirit and his soul, this is exactly how YeHoVaH joined me to him. No doubt this unbreakable connection to my former spouse is why YeHoVaH has not allowed me to move on and be joined to someone else. As a result, every August 13th – as well as at least 5 days leading up to it and 2 or 3 days after it – I suffer from a deep sense of loss that cannot be avoided no matter how hard I try. I feel like I lost my soulmate, and, until YeHoVaH changes me, I believe I will feel this way every year around the same time, for the rest of my life on earth.

  • I composed the haiku in the above image on July 31, 2021.

Your Old Man Is DEAD!

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Spiritual

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Old Man or Sin Nature

Surely you know, brothers — for I am speaking to those who understand Torah — that the Torah has authority over a person only so long as he lives? For example, a married woman is bound by Torah to her husband while he is alive; but if the husband dies, she is released from the part of the Torah that deals with husbands. Therefore, while the husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress if she marries another man; but if the husband dies, she is free from that part of the Torah; so that if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Thus, my brothers, you have been made dead with regard to the Torah through the Messiah’s body, so that you may belong to someone else, namely, the one who has been raised from the dead, in order for us to bear fruit for God. For when we were living according to our old nature, the passions connected with sins worked through the Torah in our various parts, with the result that we bore fruit for death. But now we have been released from this aspect of the Torah, because we have died to that which had us in its clutches, so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law. ~ Romans 7:1-6, CJB

The Old Testament’s Law was not given to God’s Jewish people to perfect each Jewish person’s old man or sin nature. That is to say; the Law was not given to make Jewish people holy and righteous, because the Word of God makes it clear that if they stumbled and broke one point of the Law, then they were guilty of breaking the whole Law (cf. James 2:10).

Therefore, the reason why God gave His Ten Commandments and His other directives was for the purpose of producing the kind of guilt that would make His Jewish people understand that they are in bondage to and, thus, under the dictatorship of their “old man” or sin nature (see Romans 3:19, 23; Romans 5:12; and 1 Timothy 1:9-10). Since they were sinners who, apart from God and His Grace, would never live a sinless life, this Divine Truth is why God commanded them to make amends for their sins through sacrificed animals and burnt offerings, as well as through some non-animal offerings like repentance, prayers, and charity/good deeds (see 1 Kings 8:46-50; Hosea 6:6), or else suffer the consequence of the sin(s) they committed. The bottom line is that every Jewish person sinned, and every one of those sins ultimately leads to the sinning person’s physical  death.

Put differently, the Jewish people living under the Law were in essence SLAVES to that Law—they were obligated to serve the Law through their obedience to the Law. Whenever they were disobedient to the Law, they legally were required to make the appropriate sin sacrifice and sin offering (read Leviticus 4:1-6:30) that were necessary for Jewish sinners to receive forgiveness, or they had to suffer the consequences of their sins that the Law described (read Deuteronomy 28:15-68 for descriptions of the many curses God will send because of their disobedience). Then too, the Law even dictated where the Jews could make their sacrifices and their offerings. They couldn’t do so wherever they wanted (see Deuteronomy 12:4-6, 8-11, 13-14).

Be that as it may. When a person becomes a believer in Christ (a born again, saved, and being sanctified believer), this is when that person’s legal obligation to the Law ends. There no longer is that old slave-master relationship with the Law, like every Jewish person had from the time of the giving of the Law, and like each Jewish person still has, if he or she is not a Messianic Jew. Now the chief reason why a believer’s slave-master relationship with the Law has ended is because he or she has died to his or her old self, and as a result also has died to the Law. Thus, for the believer in Christ Jesus, the Law that was given to kill and condemn (see 2 Corinthians 3:7, 9) no longer could strengthen sin (see 1 Corinthians 15:56), for sin that has been strengthened ultimately defeats humans.  

In other words, the reason why every believer no longer is under the Law is because each believer’s old man or sin nature no longer exists. The believer’s spiritually DEAD heart (spirit), in which the old man used to live, has become a New Creation (see Romans 6:4, 6; Ephesians 2:5-6; and Colossians 2:12-13). Because of God’s Grace, each believer in Christ Jesus now has new life—is a new man with a sinless nature. The Lord has set the believer free (released him or her) from the Law so that he or she could marry Christ Jesus, the Messiah! Conversely, the only way a Jewish person could get out from under the Law—could be legally released from the Law—was through a physical death, as only death could end every legal obligation to the Law. For this last reason, the apostle Paul uses marriage as an analogy or metaphor to illustrate the similarities between the Jewish wife who is no longer married to her first husband, because his physical death has released her from the marriage part of the Law, and believers in Christ Jesus who are no longer married to their old man or sin nature (their first husband), because the death of their old man or sin nature has released them from being SLAVES to the Law.

Once again, for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, our “old man” is DEAD. Now here’s where we need to know what the Torah (the Law) says about marriage, in order to understand the apostle Paul’s marriage analogy (how he compares the relationship a Jewish woman has with her husband and the Law TO the relationship believers have with Christ Jesus and the Law). Then too, what is important to know about biblical analogies is that, like parables, they are used to get across one point of Divine Truth. In the apostle Paul’s marriage analogy, that one point of Divine Truth is: Death removes a person from the bondage of the Law. Moreover, making just one point is why analogies are not specific in EVERY detail, which is why when analogies are pressed too far they then will fall under the category of allegorical interpretations, where every part of an analogy will have an analogous counterpart.

Having said that, there can be no doubt that the apostle Paul knows that the Jewish marriage Law, indeed ANY marriage law, whether Jewish, Roman, or whatever, has the power and authority to bind a man and a woman together, yet if either the husband or the wife dies then the marriage law that bound them together is cancelled. More important, unlike Roman and other Gentile marriage laws, where either the man or the woman could divorce a spouse, the apostle knows that, in accordance with the Mosaic Law, a woman who is married cannot divorce her husband. She, thus, is bound to her husband by the Law, even if he decides to divorce her for the legal reason of conjugal infidelity. As a divorcee she is forbidden to marry another man, as long as her first husband is living, and this point in the marriage Law is what Christ Jesus emphasizes in the New Testament (see Deuteronomy 24:1; Matthew 5:31-32; and Romans 7:3). The bottom line is that since only death can set aside the Jewish marriage Law obligations, a married Jewish woman is bound to her husband by the Law until her husband dies.

Once again, the Torah only has authority/dominion over that wife, as long as her husband lives. When he dies, she is free from the very Law that otherwise would have prevented her from divorcing her first husband and/or prevented her from marrying someone else, as a divorcee, as long as her first husband is alive. If she remarried before the first husband died, she would be committing adultery.

Since the Law no longer plays a role in salvation, for as the apostle says, “But now, quite apart from Torah, God’s way of making people righteous in his sight has been made clear — although the Torah and the Prophets give their witness to it as well” ~ Romans 3:21, CJB, the apostle’s marriage analogy, thus, really is a salvation issue. His marriage metaphor is a salvation issue because the power of both sin and the Law ends once the believer belongs to a new realm—to the spiritual realm, as opposed to the natural realm. Indeed, believers, who now are the spiritual Body of Christ, obtain salvation by Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus, and not by the Law. It is salvation, then, that initiates believers’ new marital relationship that is both lifelong and eternal.

Since the Law does not save anyone, the apostle Paul’s marriage analogy (metaphor or comparison) definitely is describing how believers in Christ Jesus = the wife/married woman; how believers’ old-man nature = their first husband; and how believers’ new-man nature = their second husband, as every believer’s new nature is being transformed into the image of Christ Jesus. Now, it is important to note here that the apostle Paul is not saying that the Law is dead, as many seem to believe. Why would the Law die, when the Law is NOT sin but rather reveals sin and informs about sin (see Romans 3:20 and Romans 7:7)? Then too, why would the Law die, when the Law is holy, righteous, and good (v. 12), and the Law is spiritual (v. 14)? No, the Law isn’t dead, but it does produce death, as well as sin (vv. 9-11), and the Law also sensitizes both Jews and Gentiles to their need for God’s Grace and Mercy.

For these above reasons, the apostle Paul, with his marriage analogy or metaphor, is saying that it is each believer who has died to the Law through Christ Jesus’ death, and every believer died so that he or she could take Christ Jesus as his or her new spouse (cf. Romans 7:4). In other words, the apostle is saying that it is the believer in Christ Jesus who experiences a spiritual death (the old man dies to the “spiritual” Law, once and for all). However, unlike how it is with a believer’s dead and gone old man or sin nature, a believer’s soul and body are left in their unregenerate state. This Divine Truth is why the soul and body of a believer have to die daily—a death that occurs with every renewal of his or her mind, with every daily change in his or her thinking and his or her attitudes about God’s Perfect Will  (cf. Romans 12:1-2).

Certainly, the apostle Paul also is saying in his marriage analogy that as long as believers (the woman in his marriage analogy or metaphor) are married to their first husband (bound by the Law to their individual old sinful self; see Ephesians 2:3), even if they wanted to, they never would be able to get out of that first relationship, as long as the Law controlled them—had authority and dominion over them. They also would not be able to get out from under the Law, as long as the Law made them aware or conscious of sin and then produced guilt in them (see Romans 3:19-20; 1 Timothy 1:9-10). However, because of God’s Grace and the power of His Holy Spirit, when believers’ first husband (old man) died a spiritual death (when they were born again, regenerated), the Law which legally bound them to their first husband (old man) no longer could condemn them or prevent them from marrying their second husband (new man; new self; which by the Holy Spirit is being transformed into the image of Christ). That is to say; unlike the natural marriage in which the Law had dominion over the wife, neither the Law nor sin has dominion over Christ Jesus’ spiritual Bride, which is every new man (see Romans 6:14; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). 

Put differently, when our first husband (our old man of sin) becomes dead in the eyes of the Law (is put to death in Christ and, thus, has risen with Him as a NEW Creation), this death means that the “old man” no longer exists. In essence, neither our old sin nature nor our new sinless nature is under the Law! Now that we, who are the New Creations being compared to the woman in the apostle’s marriage analogy, no longer will be guilty of committing adultery, should we remarry, we are unlike the Jewish wife who might obtain a divorce certificate. For her, as long as her first husband still lives, she would be considered, by the Law, to be married to two different husbands at the same time, if she remarried. The point here is that, if we who are New Creations had two natures (our old AND our new natures), as some believe we have, we definitely would be living in adultery, because we still would be married to our old man (sinful nature), while in a second marriage to our new man (sinless nature), which is being transformed into the image of Christ Jesus.

Instead, contrary to popular opinions, we born again, saved, and being sanctified believers do not have both an old man or sinful nature AND a new man or sinless nature. That would make us somewhat schizophrenic! Furthermore, unlike a husband and a wife who become one through intercourse, we who are the collective Wife or Bride of Christ (New Creations) have become One with Him spiritually, by becoming just like Him. In other words, our regenerate spirits are IN Christ and IN the Holy Spirit. We are no longer who we used to be, when the Law had authority over us.

Do believers who are born again, saved, and being sanctified still sin? Yes! Occasional sinning is why born again, saved, and being sanctified believers in Christ Jesus struggle with the reasons why they still sin. However, the Divine Truth is that these believers are NOT hopelessly doomed to sin, even though they will not want to sin, but then sin anyway.

Moreover, the real struggle is between believers’ born-again spirits (hearts), which have them choosing to live a holy and righteous life, and their unregenerate souls and bodies, which have them choosing to participate in unholy and unrighteous behaviors. Indeed, when the desires of the regenerate spirits in believers, which make them so sensitive to the workings of the Holy Spirit inside them, are overruled by the desires in believers’ minds and bodies, that’s when believers really “feel” the ugliness and the shame of their rebellion, which sin causes, and when they are most aware of their struggle. 

In other words, the struggle true believers in Christ Jesus have is because of the Law that is in their minds. The Law makes them ashamed of their sin, which they became aware of as soon as the Holy Spirit convicted them of it. Furthermore, the struggle true believers in Christ Jesus have is because of the Holy Spirit who is inside them, teaching and/or reminding them that every sin a child of God commits diminishes the amount of Glory God should have been getting from the NEW lives believers are supposed to be living. So then, the Law is not dead, but rather believers are under new management, so to speak. Because they now belong to Christ Jesus, who fulfilled the demands of the Mosaic Law, they now serve and obey God a new way, which is by living in the Spirit.

Believers struggle with the reasons why they sin, then, not because they still have their old sin nature (their old man; their spiritually dead spirit) inside of them, but because only their spirits (hearts) have been perfected—born again from above, justified, presented as if believers had never sinned, and then credited with the righteousness of Christ Jesus. This Divine Truth is why, when Father God looks at the Lord’s Bride through Christ Jesus’ blood, Father God sees His holy and righteous children, even though He knows their souls and bodies occasionally still act as if they’re married to sin, despite the fact that believers’ new-man spirits are married to Christ Jesus.

This struggle is best illustrated by the apostle Paul, who writes:

I can anticipate the response that is coming: ‘I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?’ Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary. But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. ~ Romans 7:14-25, MSG

Once again, the true believers in Christ Jesus are His believers’ born-again spirits and not believers’ souls (their individual mind, will, emotions, desires, intellect, conscience, and so forth) or their physical natural bodies. Actually, Christ Jesus is holy and righteous, so how could all of a believer (spirit, body, and soul) live in Christ Jesus, when the soul and body still are unregenerate? NO sin can live inside a holy and righteous Christ Jesus. Again, only the human spirit is a new Creation, and this new Creation is IN Christ Jesus. That’s why, for the most part, the born-again spirits of true believers in Christ Jesus do live and walk in the Spirit (cf. Romans 8:4-9), but since their souls and bodies have not been perfected sometimes believers make a choice to walk after their fleshly or soulish desires. So then, because believers’ souls and bodies have not been completely perfected, this is the main reason why believers have to renew their minds, daily, so that the spiritual Truths and the Will of God that have been deposited in their born-again spirits are flowing through their souls and bodies, manifesting outwardly as holy and righteous living—as lives that produce good fruit.

Now this produced good fruit is what the  apostle Paul calls “fruit for God,” which he speaks about in Romans 7:4. Obviously Paul’s “fruit for God” means the good fruit of a sanctified (holy) life, which no doubt also would include the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, as well as believers’ righteous/good deeds. However, in contrast, the apostle also speaks about the people who are without Christ Jesus, who have unregenerate spirits, and because they are unbelievers they ONLY can bear the fruit for death (cf. Romans 7:5).

Lastly, our struggles aside, the apostle Paul makes it clear that Christ Jesus did not free us from our first husband (from our marriage to our old man or sinful nature) just so that we could wallow in sin—return to sinning habitually; return to being slaves to the Law of sin and death. The Lord freed us from our first marriage so that we could marry Him—become His pure and holy Bride. He also freed us so that we now could serve Him in the new ways the Holy Spirit establishes (serve Him with our new-man nature we have been given) [cf. Romans 7:6]. This service would not be possible, if we had two natures, for Christ Jesus declares that:

No one can be slave to two masters; for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money. ~ Matthew 6:24, CJB

Now, if men and women can’t serve both God and money, then it stands to reason that men and women also can’t serve at the same time their new husband (Jesus Christ), to whom their new sinless nature is married, and serve their old husband (sin; wickedness, rebellion, Satan), to whom their old sinful nature was married. This Divine Truth is why our old man is dead, never to live again.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Amen

Any Kind of Sex That Happens Outside of Marriage IS Unacceptable to God

03 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

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The world condones fornication . . . touching a woman, that is, having carnal knowledge of . . . having sex OUTSIDE of marriage! Of course, the world says it’s okay to test drive before making the decision to marry . . . to sow wild oats (to have numerous sexual relationships) . . . to shack up (to be sexually intimate without being married; to be in a live-in situation) . . . to seek sex from prostitutes . . . to be in a incestuous relationship, and so forth. The world also says that it’s okay to be on the Down Low and still have sex with women . . . to live a homosexual and/or a lesbian lifestyle . . . to have sex with animals (bestiality) . . . to touch yourself for the purpose of sexually pleasing yourself through masturbation, and so forth.

Well, the world is dead wrong, but the sad truth is that many secular Christians also condone these, and other kinds, of sexual immorality! These Christians are secular, because they are trying to go in two different directions at the same time. They are following opposing doctrines: (1.) the secular humanism doctrine, which disregards or rejects any form of religious faith and worship . . . denies the need for God and His moral principles to be present in order for a civilized society to function . . . promotes a man-centered worldly spirit; and (2.) the Christian doctrine, which believes in and trusts in the revealed Word of God, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, the Gospel, resurrection, salvation, sanctification, damnation, the supernatural, and more . . . accepts that there is a need for God and His moral principles to be present in order for a civilized society to function . . . promotes a Christ-centered godly spirit.

Now, there are many differences between a faithful Christian and a secular Christian, but primarily the faithful Christians ceaselessly are walking in their Redeemer’s footsteps; they are laying down their lives, daily—presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice, as a result of daily renewing their minds (cf. Romans 12:1-2), while secular Christians (or unfaithful Christians) are either returning to sin again “like a sow to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22.), or they are not exercising sufficient faith and courage, because they do not have a sufficient amount of the Master’s character. They are in bondage to their fear of the sacrificial death (cf. Hebrews 2:15).

Where sexual conduct is concerned, there is no doubt that secular Christians follow the humanistic view. For the humanists, their standards of sexual conduct are based on their human experiences, and since personal pleasure is the principal standard by which most humanists determine their sexual conduct, then it is reasonable to expect that they would permit total freedom from sexual restraints, except for those sexual restraints that each consenting person might prefer. Similarly, like humanists, secular Christians often determine that it is very right to please themselves in any given situation in which the opportunity presents itself for them to fornicate or be sexually immoral (i.e., participate in the act of adultery, idolatry, incest, bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism, or self-stimulation, and so forth).

The problem here is that secular Christians (or worldly Christians) have failed to understand that they have become the kind of people James calls “…adulterous people” for they “don’t…know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). For the record, even believers can be God’s enemy if they are not living a life in which the Holy Spirit governs their minds, but rather they are living a life in which their flesh directs their minds (cf. Romans 8:5-8). The Word of God is clear on this flesh issue, as God through the Apostle Paul says:

For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do. ~  Galatians 5:17, AMP

This contemporary struggle with the flesh and the Spirit is apparent in the very popular but controversial “Single, Saved, and Sexin’: The Gospel of Gettin’ Your Freak On,” a blog entry posted in February 2011 on The Crunk Feminist Collective blog. In this entry, the author writes:

At my former church, I spent at least one Friday a month, hanging with the dynamic, beautiful, thoughtful, educated sisters of faith who did ministry work. These women were not stuffy; they were totally real:  about how lonely it is without someone; about how they never saw themselves at 35 or 40 still being alone with no prospects; about how frustrating the prospect of perpetual celibacy is. … And because these women believed strongly in the Bible as a rule book, no extramarital expressions of sexuality are permitted, not even masturbation.

…So while I love these women and while I believe we love the same God, I do not love their sexual ethics. I do not think one can live and thrive in them. For me, Christianity is too much about grace, too much about freedom to engender the continual guilt, frustration, and anxiety, which I continually confronted merely for expressing my sexual selfhood. Surely there must be a better way.

But when it comes to the sex life of the single Christian, it’s hard to take the Bible as the gospel truth, because for us, their ain’t no good news in it….

This author does not deny that there are God-fearing individuals who still follow the biblical standards that pertain to sexual morality. In fact, she even confesses that she loves the faithful God-fearing women in her former church, and she continues to voice her opinions in this gentle vein until after she admits: “I do not love their sexual ethics.” Her confession sheds light on why she failed to live holy while single—she is living the life of a secular Christian. Her worldly lifestyle, which is based on her standards of sexual conduct, proves the Word of God is true about believers befriending the world by adopting the ways of the world. She struggled with the Spirit and her flesh before she gave in to her needs, and she struggles still, this time with Father God Himself, because He says through James: “…anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4b).

As already mentioned, the world condones sex outside of marriage, and it is clear that what this author wants is for Christ’s Body of Believers to condone sex outside of marriage, too. She seems to believe that if the “church” had a more sexually permissive attitude for those individuals who do not have the power (self-discipline) and/or the desire to exercise complete abstention from sexual activity before marriage then so many women would be “free” to be themselves. The only problem with this stinking – thinking is that the Word of God says that “…the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature)” ~ Galatians 5:17!

For sure, it was her struggle between Spirit and flesh that has her blaming the “church,” the Word of God, faithful saints, and, if she could, anybody, except her own self, for why she did not keep God’s holy standards. Because she failed, she came to the conclusion that there is nobody who really can live the way God commands and “thrive.”

The Divine Truth is that Father God is the ONE who designed the acceptable sexual conduct behind the “sexual ethics” the faithful God-fearing women she admires follow, and this same God is the ONE she implies she loves. Even though she knows that the God she loves created sex for marriage, she seems to feel that, despite the fact “some” women have decided that “doing it God’s way is best,” women faithful to God’s commands cannot remain celibate indefinitely, because it is impossible to “live and thrive” without having sex, either with a partner or with one’s own self. Indeed, the author appears to be saying that today’s believers only have two options: (1.) try to keep God’s standards and end up suffering a miserably, lonely and sexually frustrated life; or (2.) abandon His standards and be set free from all the “…guilt, frustration, and anxiety…” that keep women from being able to communicate their individual “sexual selfhood.”

There is so much wrong with her thinking that to deal with everything would take too long. Focus here will be on living a Christian lifestyle’s basics that she seems to have forgotten.

First, the power that is able to keep every woman and man from falling into sexual temptation—from giving in to his or her sexual urges while living a single life—is the Holy Spirit. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit, no one will have the power to “live and thrive” in this promiscuous, self-gratifying, and avaricious world, because all around us are “…the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]” (1 John 2:16)!

Secondly, sex outside of marriage is unacceptable to God, PERIOD! Thus, anyone who thinks that God will tolerate His children’s choice to yield to the world’s looser (more relaxed) sexual conduct standards has been deceived. As sovereign God, the Creator decided that sex would be for married couples, not only for procreative purposes but also for physical enjoyment. Then too, He made sex for marriage so that the sexual relationship between a husband and wife would be an example of the deepest intimacy humans could achieve.

Contrary to popular opinions, the Bible STILL teaches that God prefers individuals to have the self-discipline to exercise complete abstention from sexual activity before marriage. From Genesis 2:24 to Matthew 19:5, to 1 Corinthians 6:16, and Ephesians 5:31-32, God makes it apparent that once a man and woman “…become united…they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24, AMP). There can be no doubt that God is saying that each couple (consisting of one man and one woman) will become one flesh (one body) through sexual intercourse. For this reason, God’s marriage law only allows this oneness to be between a husband and a wife. Certainly, this oneness is more than just a metaphorical oneness, for this oneness is both physical AND spiritual!

Therefore, based on God’s marriage law, it also is obvious that in God’s view there is NO SUCH thing as pre-marital sex, for SEX is meant for married couples (the unions between ONE husband and ONE wife), and them ONLY! Thus, the pre-marital sex standard is nothing more than the world’s attempt to separate sex FROM marriage. Be that as it may, God’s Word makes it very clear that every act of fornication or sexual immorality (PORNEIA), which primarily refers to prostitution, adultery (both physical and spiritual), and/or abominations like lesbianism, homosexuality, incest, idolatry, and bestiality, happens outside of the marriage contract! Perhaps the fact that there is no such thing as pre-marital sex is why, whenever Jesus the Christ is speaking about marriage, the Lord always uses the Greek word PORNEIA to describe a married person’s sexual conduct that has caused him or her to sin against his or her own body!

Furthermore, it is logical to conclude that when the Apostle Paul says to: “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18, AMP) that he very well could be including masturbation under the sexual immorality category—sin committed against the body. Since masturbation is sexual, in that masturbation only can be achieved by stimulating sexually responsive parts of the body like the genitals, then masturbation, which, more often than not, involves sexual fantasies and pornography, must be seen as a kind of sex outside of marriage. Therefore, like any one of the aforesaid sexual sins that fall under the umbrella of PORNEIA, masturbation also must be included, for it too is a sin committed against the body.

Then too, since God desires that the focus in a marital relationship should be on the husband and wife pleasing each other, and since masturbation is the self-stimulation of the sex organs, that is to say, the focus of masturbation is on pleasing oneself, then without a doubt, masturbation goes against God’s biblical plan for couples meeting the sexual needs of one another, because masturbation denies a marriage partner his or her physical enjoyment. Now, even though a spouse can masturbate with the help of a partner, usually masturbation is self-stimulation performed by various types of bodily contact or by using objects or tools, or some combination of these methods. Therefore, the bottom line is that some masturbating single individuals, who eventually marry, often have ruined their appetite for having sex with their marriage partner, because often the self-serving mindset they had before they married has remained with them and is the reason why pleasing themselves sexually, without involving the God-designed intimacy from their spouse, could become the preferred way some married masturbators achieve sexual release.

Be that as it may, by God’s Divine wisdom, marriage, and the comforts of that state, have been settled! No matter how hard people might try, they cannot change the absolute Divine Truth about any kind of sex that happens outside of the marriage being unacceptable to God. Christians, thus, cannot live contrary to God’s established sexual conduct and not expect to suffer the consequences of their decisions. The Bible is very clear about fornication or sexual immorality. The Apostle Paul writes:

The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body [to save, sanctify, and raise it again]. …Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, ~ 1 Corinthians 6:13b and 18-19, AMP

In the above verses, the word “immorality” (“fornication” in other English translations) is used for the Greek New Testament word PORNEIA, from which the English word “pornography” also is derived (and pornography entices people to think, to look, and to please themselves). Even though pornography comes from the Greek word PORNEIA, it is interesting that the modern-day understanding of pornography doesn’t convincingly correspond to the biblical understanding of PORNEIA (fornication or sexual immorality).

Then again, where PORNEIA (fornication or sexual immorality) is concerned, most people would not interpret the Word of God as being permissive about illicit sexual intercourse, such as prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, incest, idolatry, and so forth. In fact, where the debate in favor of PORNEIA being forbidden finds its clearest Scriptural evidence is in this verse: “For this is the will of God, that you should be consecrated (separated and set apart for pure and holy living): that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice” (1 Thessalonians 4:3 AMP).

Without a doubt, most of the problems people have with the kinds of sex PORNEIA refers to usually arise when the Bible is silent about a particular sexual issue, and these problems invariably include believers thinking that the Bible’s silence on ANY subject automatically makes that issue acceptable. What many believers and non-believers fail to understand is that the Bible does not present itself as an exhaustive text on any one subject; but since the Word of God has been written under the guidance and inspiration of God, then where the Bible touches on any subject the Word of God teaches the absolute and unalterable Divine Truth.

The sad truth is that it often is difficult for some believers, as well as non-believers, to comprehend that it is just as scandalous to call something A SIN that God, in His Word, specifically DOES NOT call A SIN, as it is to say something is NOT A SIN that God, in His Word, specifically say IS A SIN! That being said, it also is important to know that there are those believers who have concluded that since the Bible does not say that masturbation IS a sin then it must be okay with God for them to masturbate. The flaw in this thinking is these believers are assuming that God is giving them the green light to masturbate, principally, in lieu of fornicating or committing sexual immorality, when the Divine Truth is that God never says that masturbation IS NOT a sin!

True enough, the Bible does not clearly declare that masturbation is a sin, but once again silence DOES NOT automatically give consent. The truth is that the Bible is silent on many matters, for example, it also does not declare that discriminating against Blacks is a sin, or that killing abortion doctors is a sin, or that lynching homosexuals is a sin, yet the Bible’s silence does not stop some people from declaring that their discriminating, killing, and/or lynching actions are morally justified—that they can treat anyone they please this way, if they believe that person deserves such treatment. However, the Divine Truth is that even though the Bible doesn’t flat out state some behaviors are sins, through inference, that is, by drawing a conclusion or choosing the most likely explanation from the facts at hand, believers can conclude that discriminating against Blacks, killing abortion doctors, and lynching homosexuals are, indeed, sins.

Inference works as follows. The Scriptures tell believers that it is a sin to show favoritism and a sin to treat anybody unjustly or discriminatorily. Therefore, every kind of racial discrimination also is a sin (cf. Micah 6:8; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:14-15; and James 2:9). The Scriptures tell believers that they are not to kill anyone; therefore, killing abortion doctors is a sin, and, since lynching is the unlawful premeditated killing of a human being, lynching is also a sin (cf. Genesis 9:6; Exodus 20:13; Exodus 21:12; Deuteronomy 5:17; Leviticus 24:17, 21b; Matthew 5:21; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Romans 13:9; and James 2:11).

Likewise, in the following example of inference, believers can know that masturbation is a sin, even though God does not actually call masturbation a sin in the Scriptures. What He does say in His Word, however, is that the only people who can experience sexual satisfaction and fulfillment are those who are in a marital relationship. From this biblical fact, believers can infer that in any situation in which a man or a woman is focusing on pleasing him or herself sexually (masturbating), he or she has opened his or her mind up to lustful thinking. Masturbation, thus, is sex outside of marriage, because the Word of God teaches that a person who looks on another to lust after that person has committed adultery, and the Word of God teaches that lustful thinking is sinful. Additionally, the Word of God teaches that believers should have ONLY pure thoughts (see, Matthew 5:27-28; Matthew 15:19, Philippians 4:8; and James 1:14-15! Thus, by using inference, the Bible can condemn a certain kind of behavior without ever directly mentioning it!

Furthermore, while no one can claim to know the mind of God, the Scriptures tell believers that they have the mind of Christ, which is probably why God’s Word clearly does declare that it is extremely important to God that believers keep their minds and their bodies pure. Indeed, Romans chapter 1 teaches that God has given mankind a natural knowledge of right and wrong, but when people reject the knowledge of God, by choosing instead to exalt man and practice idolatry, then their behaviors are evidence that proves their mind has become impure or depraved. The Apostle Paul also insists in Romans chapter 1 that humans’ “vile affections and degrading passions” (Romans 1:26, AMP) definitely angered God until He abandoned both men and women:

…in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator….(Romans 1:24-25, AMP)

Thus, men and women’s unnatural and indecent passions (sexual immorality) will result in them dishonoring God with their minds and with their bodies!

Where pure minds and pure bodies are concerned, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus the Christ says: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28, NKJV). Later on in the Book of Matthew, Jesus the Christ also says: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts (reasonings and disputings and designs) such as murder, adultery, sexual vice, theft, false witnessing, slander, and irreverent speech” ~ Matthew 15:19. Then in James 1:14-15, believers learn that:

…every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.

It must be noted here that, even though Jesus the Christ and James speak of “a man” looking at a woman to lust for her, and a man being “baited by his own evil desire,” a woman also can be guilty of looking on a man to lust for him, and guilty of being tempted by her own desires. The important message, then, in the above-cited verses accredited to Jesus and James is that thinking lustful thoughts is just as sinful as committing physical and spiritual sins! Moreover, the above-cited verses also make it clear that lustful thoughts give birth to sinful ACTIONS, and that, when sinful actions are allowed to grow, they will bring death.

It is quite clear that pleasing oneself sexually also would go against the teaching found in Philippians 4:8, 1 Corinthians 7:2, Matthew 5:28, and several other passages in God’s Word. What’s more, since the goal of the Christian life is to be pure in thought and deed, then the Scriptures pertaining to lustful thoughts being impure and, therefore, sinful not only make it unmistakable that when masturbation involves sexual fantasies and/or pornography, as it often does, masturbation is an impure and sinful thought and action. The Scriptures pertaining to lustful thoughts being impure and, therefore, sinful also make it clear that masturbation often is a stumbling block (sin) that will keep believers from achieving the aforesaid goal of the Christian life.

Again, God never directly states that masturbation is a sin, but by using inference, based on what the Bible does say about related sexual issues, believers can wisely apply the principles found in Scriptures pertaining to those related sexual issues to the subject of masturbation. In essence, believers can understand how the Bible can condemn a certain kind of behavior without ever directly mentioning it!

Returning back again to the “Single, Saved, and Sexin’: The Gospel of Gettin’ Your Freak On” blog entry, the author concludes thusly:

I don’t want the good stuff, sexual or otherwise, to elude me while I’m over here dutifully following the rules, so I’ve actively and painfully gone in search of a better way, filled with life affirming principles and enough grace to let me enjoy my life and some good sex, too.  ‘Cause frankly, now that I’m over 30, getting some, getting it good, and getting it on a regular basis is non-negotiable.

Her attitude toward God’s design for sex is appalling and dangerously apostate. Moreover, the fact that so many people are trusting that this author knows the Bible and trusting that she is giving them God’s Divine Truth on the issue of having sex outside of marriage is frightening. Her attitude is why it is possible that she is a secular Christian, because only a secular Christian would flat out deny that he or she needs GOD and HIS life-affirming principles in order to have the best way to function in this dying and sin-sick world. Indeed, only a secular Christian would consider his or her personal sexual experiences as being the sexual conduct standards that determine what, if any, sexual restraints he or she will follow, instead of God’s Word.

Whether she knows it or not, God has given believers the inspired Bible so that they will be able to accurately know that which is good, true, and holy. He also has given believers the Bible so that they might know the mind and will of God, so that they might teach, correct, rebuke, and train in God’s righteousness, and so that their “good” works might be pleasing in the sight of God. An example of how God uses His Word to teach, correct, rebuke, and/or train in God’s righteousness is what the Apostle Paul writes about the “grace” the author says will let her “…enjoy [her] life and some good sex, too.” Paul says:

WHAT SHALL we say [to all this]? Are we to remain in sin in order that God’s grace (favor and mercy) may multiply and overflow? Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?” ~ Romans 6:1-2

For these reasons, and others, it is important that believers understand that they MUST trust, follow, and obey God’s Word, and they must know that His word on SEX is that it ONLY is for married couples! Where this subject is concerned, God’s authority is non-negotiable, and God is unapologetic about that!

Since marriage is the ONLY relationship in which men and women might have sex, the Apostle Paul says that the men and women who do not have the self-discipline to exercise complete abstention from sexual activity could avoid the sin of fornication (sexual immorality or PORNEIA) by getting married. The ugly truth about marriage is as follows: If Christian spiritual leaders would teach marriage the way the Bible does, then perhaps many of the problems with various sexual acts and uncleanness could be avoided.

Unfortunately, what has become the norm in the “institutional church” is weak and/or fallen Christians have given in to the world’s sinful definitions pertaining to pre-marital sex so that they could satisfy their own lusts. As a result, instead of impacting the world with biblical truths, these weak and fallen Christians within the “institutional church” have perverted the true biblical doctrine of marriage to serve their own needs! Such is the case with the author of “Single, Saved, and Sexin’: The Gospel of Gettin’ Your Freak On.”

At some point in believers’ lives, especially when they are dealing with a subject about which the Bible is silent, Christians are going to have to realize that they have another creditable source to use. God has given believers His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the ONE who reveals ALL TRUTH! Believers, therefore, can rest assured that the Holy Spirit will speak to them, confirming for them whether or not certain liberties are all right to pursue. The Holy Spirit also will let believers know if they are living right—if they are pleasing God by dedicating their bodies as a living sacrifice, which is their reasonable service and spiritual worship (cf. Romans 12:1).

Then too, the Holy Spirit will convict believers and unbelievers of sin, so if someone is walking in the Holy Spirit, or if someone still is living a carnal life (still a spiritual baby) and his or her conscience has not been seared (defiled . . . filled with ungodly thoughts, words, and actions), the Holy Spirit surely will let these believers know if their sexual conduct lines up with the Word and Will of God. Thus, if believers are pleasing themselves, paying for sex, practicing idolatry by way of having sex with temple prostitutes so that they can receive favorable blessings, sowing wild oats, committing adultery, committing acts of lesbianism, homosexuality and/or bestiality, living on the Down Low, shacking up, committing incest, and so forth, the Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin(s), teach them God’s Divine Truths, correct them, possibly rebuke them, and train them in God’s righteousness so that they can deepen their spiritual growth and progress in their sanctification process.

Besides teaching believers all truths, the Holy Spirit guides believers in every area of life, from the words they should speak, to the spouse they should marry, to the investments they should make. He reminds believers of the Word. He helps believers to pray accurately and effectively. He intercedes on believers’ behalf. He tells believers about things to come. He glorifies Jesus the Christ, and He declares to believers the things of Jesus the Christ. He abides with believers. He encourages believers. He brings new life and healing to believers. Finally, He empowers and endows believers with supernatural power and spiritual gifts—He gives believers not only everything they need to help them be witnesses but also everything they need to help them stay the course!

Concerning the people who have a seared conscience, these are the individuals whom the Holy Spirit cannot minister to in any of the above-mentioned ways. The people who have a seared conscience, thus, have a conscience that does not function as God created it to function, for it has been altered and can no longer operate in God’s type of holiness and righteousness. Thus, seared-conscience individuals are those people who are judging themselves to be either right or wrong, without being made aware of any accusations, convictions of guilt, and/or condemnations. In other words, they are judging the Bible instead of letting the Bible judge them. As a result, these seared-conscience individuals will display ungodly attitudes or they will be looking elsewhere for the proper authority over their life instead of looking to God and His Bible! Put differently, seared-conscience individuals are bona fide apostates! These are those whom God has given over to their reprobate minds. According to the Apostle Paul, seared-conscience people:

…hold a form of piety (true religion), [but] they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them]. …They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and counterfeit and to be rejected as far as the faith is concerned. ~ 2 Timothy 3:5, 8b, AMP

Finally, if you are a secular Christian and you do not want your conscience to become seared, and you also do not want to experience being abandoned by God who will give you over to your reprobate mind, then instead of condoning and living in a sexually immoral lifestyle, you must hate the things of this world, especially those that pertain to the world’s definition of pre-marital sex and extramarital relationships, because they go against God’s inspired Word, which is the Bible. By severing your ties to this world, you also will rid yourself of the characteristics that have caused you to be labeled as a secular Christian, which is an oxymoron.

You can achieve this freedom from your current bondage by honestly repenting your sexual sins, genuinely seeking forgiveness, and immediately agreeing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit—to let Him do His sanctifying work in you. When you show God that you are truly serious about restoring your son or daughter relationship with Him, you soon will discover, anew, that God’s forgiveness is automatic, immediate, and complete! Don’t pass up this chance for you to be delivered, healed, and made whole . . . .

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Peace!

How Clean Is Your Heart?

11 Sunday Jan 2009

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

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“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17, NIV). These Scriptures make it absolutely clear that God’s divine love is the same for everyone; however, the reason that some people believe that God loves other people more than He loves them has more to do with how each person responds to God’s divine love rather than with whether or not He unequally distributes His divine love. In other words, to some extent, each person determines the measure of God’s divine favor that he or she will receive.

Even though God’s divine love never discriminates, God’s divine favor often seems unfair. For sure, God is partial to the people who have received His Son (Jesus the Christ) as their personal Savior. God automatically extends His divine favor (His goodwill, grace, and mercy) to these believers. Since Jesus the Christ is the reason why God is gracious, merciful, and GOOD to believers, God’s spiritual sons and daughters never have to entreat Him for His divine favor because believers already have been granted full access to the natural and spiritual blessings that are in Jesus the Christ. Moreover, EVERY natural and spiritual blessing is in Christ! Nonetheless, not only do most believers have a difficult time wrapping their heads around the idea of worshipping a God who favors doubting believers who consistently fail to exercise their God-given measure of faith, but also most believers have a difficult time wrapping their heads around the idea of worshipping a God who allows wicked and perverse individuals to increase financially, or to heal completely (physically and spiritually), or to rise to fame and success effortlessly.

While there seems to be no rhyme or reason to why God’s divine favor seems unfair, the truth of the matter is that mere men and women are not responsible for who will be blessed or cursed. It is God, and Him alone, who decides if and/or how He will favor a person, and God’s decisions are based on how He judges a person’s heart (human spirit). Indeed, whatever a person has in his or her heart (like how much genuine love for God and others is there, or how much sincere compassion for the needy is there, or how much total trust in God’s mysterious and supernatural workings is there) is that which God uses to decide, for example, the people He will bring down or the people He will exalt (cf. Psalm 75:6-7).

So now the question is not: Does God love some more than others? The question is: What do people need to do to receive and grow in the kind of divine favor that prospers them? The Scriptures declare that people first must be born again so that they can become the children of God who have clean hearts. The Scriptures also declare that God’s children must wait for and listen to divine wisdom, because only the ones who find divine wisdom will receive an abundant, eternal life and “…favor from God” (cf. Proverbs 8:35, NIV).

Most Christians understand that divine wisdom is more than common sense and good judgment. For sure, any person can make good decisions that are based on a person’s understanding of the available knowledge or information. Divine wisdom, however, is hearing, understanding, and doing the Word of God in such a way that God is both reverenced and glorified. For this reason, believers who obtain divine wisdom also understand why it never is enough just to profess Jesus the Christ as their personal Savior. They know that like Jesus the Christ grew strong in the Spirit and became “…filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him” (cf. Luke 2:40, KJV), and like Jesus the Christ “…grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52, NIV), every believer who truly loves God and mankind also must become spiritually strong in the Holy Spirit and they must seek to be filled with divine wisdom.

This spiritual maturity is the only way that any believer will be able to stay connected to Jesus the Christ and thereby remain eligible for God’s divine favor—the kind of favor that prospers their soul, spirit and body. Even then, believers must realize that God’s divine favor doesn’t mean that He will grant EVERY one of their requests/prayers exactly how they have petitioned Him to do. Additionally, believers must remember that God’s divine favor also could come in the form of chastisement (cf. Hebrews 12:6-7 and Revelation 3:16-19). Lastly, believers must remember that God lets it rain on the just and the unjust—showers His generous blessings on all of His believers who exercise their measure of faith in Him, as well as on all of the people who neither believe in nor trust in Him as their Creator God!

God is immutable, and because He is the same today, yesterday, and forever, He is incapable of showing varying degrees of His love. For this reason, God doesn’t choose to love some people more than others. He chooses to love everyone equally, and His indisputable love offering—Jesus the Christ—evidences God’s evenly distributed love.

God, however, does demonstrate His favor according to His knowledge and understanding of what is in people’s hearts. Only God knows the depths of people’s hearts, which is why His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, wisely teaches that “…the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual  immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’…” (Matthew 15:18-20a, NIV). Perhaps when people learn how to discern (spiritually speaking) why some people have received blessings that God didn’t see fit to give to them, especially during the most troubling seasons of their lives, instead of accusing God of loving others more than He loves them, they first will have reached a conclusion concerning whether or not that which is in their own heart is clean and holy, i.e., their own “thinking” (faith, beliefs, or moral conduct and moral communication).