*ahem*...is this thing on?... parte dos

ok, so i had an "angry rant" post. yeah...i was angry, lol.

i want to first apologize for seeming on-edge in any of my comments or posts. it is never my desire or intention to hurt anyone, push anyone away, or participate in "i'm right, you're wrong" tug-of-war. if i have come across that way, i humbly apologize and ask forgiveness of anyone i may have hurt.

that being said, i will not apologize for my faith. i will not apologize for knowing Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. i will not apologize for shouting that truth from rooftops, for desperately desiring that every creature walking this earth come to know who Jesus is and how fabulous He is. i will not apologize for shutting out any notion that He is anything less than who He says He is.

and i am not afraid to say so.

i will never be afraid to say so.

and if that is offensive to some, i will not apologize for that. i stand boldly on the Word of God.

what we teach comes strictly from the Word of God. followers of Christ didn't make that up. the Word of God is from God. it IS God. therefore, it gets to me, it angers me, that so many are so quick to call Christians judgmental when all we're doing is proclaiming God's Word (but then again, why am i angry? for the world first rejected Christ. and if they rejected the Son of God, who are we that they won't reject us too? that's why i wrote that anger is not what i should be feeling). we didn't write it, we just try to live it. if you feel judged, it's the Word of God judging you. if you feel offended, it's the conviction of the Holy Spirit. it's not us. we are simply the messengers, God is the author and perfecter.

for those who have never truly accepted Christ, i know it's hard to understand. that understanding can only come from God. and a lot of people all over the world question "well, how do you know that YOUR faith (the Christian faith) is right, and how can you say that everyone else is wrong?"

it is not up to me to tell everyone else they are wrong. but it IS up to me to tell them the truth. and the Bible says Jesus is the Truth. the ONLY way. i know in my heart, it is not a "belief," it is a knowledge. i have never touched Jesus' skin, nor held His hand, nor heard His voice in the physical sense, but i have BEEN touched by Him, HE has held my hand, and i have heard His voice in my spirit. if that's not real, then i must be hallucinating. that's how i can say with conviction and boldness that there are no other ways - it's Jesus all the way. i have seen how He has transformed my heart, renewed my mind, and changed my life in ways that Allah, Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius or anyone of those other cats can't and never will.

but having said that, i will never bash, discriminate against, harm in any way, nor close my doors to someone who rejects Jesus. on the contrary, i open my arms because i know there must be pain there that Jesus can heal. i open my door in hopes that someone will sit awhile and let me tell them about that man named Jesus.

there's a hunger in my soul for Him like never before. i wish i could pour that hunger into everyone i know. i wish i could get them to understand the beauty of accepting salvation, the beauty of forgiveness of sin, the beauty of knowing that Our Father hears our prayers and answers them when (and only when) we have accepted His Son. God said in His word that if you reject His Son, then you also reject Him (the Father).

and i get defensive, though i know that's not the right way to feel and i need to pray about that, when people bash Jesus, when people bash God, when people slap Him in the face with all this other stuff. He deserves so much more than what we have given Him (including me). and i grieve over the fact that He was brutally beaten, humiliated, spat on, stripped naked, tortured and ridiculed for us, for ALL of us, and we STILL question His power, we STILL question His might, we STILL question His existence, we STILL question His truth. yeah, i get angry.

that's why i expect so much from Christians. it's not that i'm perfect, it's not that i'm sinless - no, FAR from it. and i expect the same high standards from myself. but it's because the rest of the world slaps Him in the face every minute and the Holy Spirit grieves. so when i see Christians being content with not changing, not striving, not even trying, i get angry. and yes, i get angry at myself because i fall short too, every single day. i know that we are all works in progress and will never be perfected until we meet Him in glory. but every day, i see Christians becoming more and more content with standing still, more and more accepting of things of this world, because we don't want to be "judgmental" we don't want to hurt anyone. so we gloss over sin, we water down Scripture, and we keep people in bondage because we're too afraid to speak the truth, or we're too afraid to accept the truth ourselves.

the world is watching us, we who are to be a salt unto the earth. we're supposed to be light. we're supposed to not be conformed to this world. so how come we look so much like the world. how come i hear over and over again from non-believers how many hypocrites are in church who still live in their sins? how can we expect to lead others to Christ when they can't see any evidence of Him in our lives? of course we're humans, we sin, we're not perfect. but if we don't try to set an example, to live our lives in a way that others can see and then glorify the Father, what's the point in calling ourselves Christians? we cannot dance the same dance of the world.

but we don't want to talk about sin because we don't want to "judge." we just want to talk love. well, a part of love is truth. and the truth shall make you free.

when those people set up shop and turned the Holy Temple into a free-for-all, selling things and what not, Jesus didn't tiptoe in there speaking about love....He was angry. He flipped over their tables and told them they had turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves, and He ordered them to get out (Matthew 21:12-13). yeah He loved them, He loves all sinners, but He got angry at their sin.

when are we going to get angry at our sin?

it is a topic that most churches don't address. we paint this picture that God is some punk who, because He loves us so much, He turns His head from our sins and just takes whatever we do. so we remain contented in our sins, we stand on the fact that "we're all sinners," we abuse His grace. God IS love, pure unconditional love, and there is no changing that. no matter how far we fall or no matter how high we get, God's love neither wanes or augments. it is not an ebb and flow kind of love. it is unchanging, HE is unchanging.

but He does have standards for us, and when we sin, we hurt Him SO much. He is always just and faithful to forgive, ALWAYS. but we cannot abuse that privilege. i have abused that privilege and grace many times. and many other Christians do also. and that makes me angry at us. God is Holy - if we really understood and revered that, would we be different? but when we speak about sin, people feel judged. when we talk about living holy lives, people feel judged, people call us self-righteous. we fail to acknowledge that along with the "love" side of God, there is a "judge" side of God. and sin is non-negotiable.

when i say that i don't speak about these things from a heart of condemnation, i mean that wholeheartedly. it's not fluff to make myself seem humble or like a good person. i mean that. i'm passionate about the subject of sin because i'm passionate about God' s people who are dying because of sin. i see lives of people who profess Christ broken and in turmoil because of sin, because we rest comfortably on our faith in Jesus as our salvation and we think that means we have a free ticket to sin-ville, because we've already gotten our free ticket to Heaven. i see people in church living just like people in the world. that breaks my heart. it breaks my heart for God who has to watch us do this, it breaks my heart for His children in bondage, and it breaks my heart for the rest of the world who sees us and what we do.

we are certainly not saved by works, lest no man should boast. no matter what good we do, we can't earn our way into Heaven. salvation is a gift we receive when we put our faith in Jesus as our Lord, Son of God, who died and rose again for our sins.

BUT the Bible says that faith without works is dead. meaning, if we have the faith, the works should follow. faith in Christ should compel us to live for Him, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, to honor Him in all we do.

the Bible also says that the wages of sin is death. i don't believe that is just for non-believers who have not accepted Christ. sin causes separation from God. it wreaks havoc in our lives. sin is satan's gateway into our lives. we gloss over sins, not realizing that our sins invite satan in. we have an awesome gift in the Holy Spirit who gives us power over sin. we just have to embrace that power and let go and let Him change our hearts. once we accept Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to Christ. yes, we will struggle with things sometimes - i have struggles, believe me! and i sin and always will.

but we have to open our eyes to the reality of our sins and not hide. i get so angry about the topic because sometimes i feel as if people don't get how serious it all is. we take so many things lightly. but these days are not promised, and i strongly suspect that we are approaching, if not already in, the Last Days. take a look at the state of the world. so i'm urgent about it because we have work to do, especially on ourselves. and we can't do better for the people of the world if we don't do better for ourselves. Hell is just as real as Heaven. and the deception of the devil is powerful, so powerful that we don't always know when we're being deceived. and as frustrated as i get with people sometimes, i cry because i think of the multitudes who are deceived, the multitudes who will perish without Christ, needlessly. and that scares me for them. i don't want to think about what will happen to all those who die in their sins, who die without Christ.

that's why i may seem so angry sometimes, because i want people to understand. that passion comes from love, not a desire to see you shamed because of your sin, or to parade you around town wearing your scarlet letter. it's not about pointing a finger, it's not about guilt. it's not about making us feel shameful or feeling that we're horrible people. it's about opening our eyes. it's about being real with God and ourselves that we are failing (including myself) and we need Him to lift us up! it's a desire to see people GROW in Christ and not remain in bondage (including myself). it's a desire to get people to be honest with themselves about sin and honest with God (including myself). it's a desire to see God's people be better than we are, be better for HIM and not just be content with doing the bare minimum and sliding under Heaven's Gates.

it is time to get real with ourselves, lay our hearts on the table before God and examine ourselves (talking to myself here, too), and really let Him start working on our lives. things don't have to remain the way they are.

and all this comes from a place of love. not judgment. not condemnation.

LOVE.