God's forgiveness is a reservoir of
forgiveness. If we decide ahead of time, as a Christian, that we're just
going to forgive everybody, then we don't have to continually decide to
forgive others every time they hurt us. When we walk with God and are right
with God, we store up forgiveness for those who hurt us. God's forgiveness
is a STATE of being, not an ACT of doing. Likewise, some people have a bad
day and criticize someone. That was a sole act of criticism. But other
critics are malicious, being in a continual scornful STATE of being
critical, hurting others daily. Do you see the difference?
Brother Hyles stresses the Biblical truth from
Ephesians 4:30-32 that God forgave us for Christ's sake, and we should do
likewise. Ephesians 4:30-32, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with
all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
And so we see here that man's type of
forgiveness is a one time ACT which requires a choice each time (i.e., to
forgive or not to forgive); but God's forgiveness is a constant STATE within
our soul, where everyone is already forgiven in our mind, because God has
already forgiven our sins, and because Christ's unconditional love floods
the believer's soul; thus, we want to forgive everyone, whether they seek it
or not, because God has forgiven us of all our woeful sins, and that compels
us to love everyone who sins. I don't want to be a miserable Christian in a
STATE of negative thinking, being critical and hatred all the time. I choose
rather to love and forgive everybody, looking at people as BROKEN and not
BAD. We're all struggling sinners.
Albeit, please don't misunderstand—when some
devilish little witch from Child Protection Services (CPS) flashes
her badge and accuses good parents of child neglect, it is a numbing feeling
inside. Your heart melts into your cold feet, and you feel like you're
oppressed in fascist WWII Nazi-Germany. There is a feeling of anger, anger
that such lowlife dregs of society can bring the crushing power of the
ungodly government down upon anyone without legitimate due process of law,
and then you're guilty until proven innocent. I could write a book on this
topic about government fraud, stealing children for profit, and CPS
monsters. I have a passionate hatred against the wicked. Yet, I do not hate
anyone, nor will I ever allow myself to hate anyone. Life is too short to
live with a burden of hatred. God hates evil (Psalms 97:10), and that's what
we ought to hate also. I have entrusted everything into God's hands for
judgment, as Romans 12:19 teaches believers to do.
I have learned from the story of Joseph in the
Old Testament how to forgive. Joseph's ten half-brothers kidnapped him and
tossed him down into a pit. While they were pondering Joseph's fate, a tribe
of merchants came along and lifted Joseph out of the pit, selling him to
another band of traders, who eventually sold him as a slave to Potiphar in
Egypt. After 20 years, Joseph went by God's grace from the prisonhouse to
Pharaoh's house. I love the true story of Joseph. God caused a draught and
famine to afflict the land for 7 years. This forced Jacob's sons to travel
down into Egypt for food. Joseph recognized his brethren immediately, but
they did not recognize him. Long story short, Joseph would have had every
logical and emotional reason to hate his half-brothers and even have them
killed, or locked away in Pharaoh's prison eating dog-food for the rest of
the their natural lives. But blessed Joseph loved God, and by faith realized
that it is God alone who judges all men. ...
Genesis 50:19-20, “And Joseph
said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to
bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
Likewise, the Bible is full of solemn PROMISES
from our God and Savior, that He will hold all mankind accountable
individually for the bad things which they have done. And that even includes
men's words (Matthew 12:36). That includes our thoughts and motives, so that
NO ONE will be able to bullcrap God on Judgment Day, because GOD KNOWS YOUR
VERY INTENTIONS AND THOUGHTS (Proverbs 24:12; Hebrews 4:13). Ecclesiastes
12:14 warns that all men and women must stand before God, required to give
account of every work, whether they be GOOD or EVIL. Christians will be
judged also, according to their GOOD and BAD works (2nd Corinthians 5:9-11).
So you see, no one ever gets away with anything in God's eyes, not even the
smallest wrongs that we do. If God monitors every little bird that falls
from the sky, and the number of hairs upon our head (Mark 10:29-30), do you
really think that He misses when you deliberately say or do something mean
to hurt someone else's feelings? Not a chance, God sees it all, and you must
give account!
You Don't Have to
Forget to Forgive
One
of the most powerful and heartbreaking MP3 sermons I've ever heard is by Dr.
David Gibbs Jr., called, “The
Essence Of A Christian.” In the sermon he talks about the true story of
a Florida woman in her late 20's. She was in a store parking lot with her
three small children, holding her baby. A car with three punks drove up,
randomly picking her to assault. They threw her baby to the ground and
forced her into the car. She fought desperately, so they broke her arm and
crushed both of her cheekbones forcing her into the car. She was no match
against three monsters! They drove her to a remote location in Florida and
gang raped her, sodomizing and performing every indecent act imaginable on
her for the next 6 hours. They showed no mercy!
Then they decided to murder her, so she
couldn't identify them. They decided to each stab her with a pocket knife,
to share in the culpability of the crime. They took turns stabbing her and
cutting her over one hundreds times, disfiguring her face and savagely
disfiguring her entire body. She was left for dead lying in a 5-foot pool of
her own blood. She agonizingly crawled through the woods with the last of
her fading strength and dropped from exhaustion about 40 feet from a road,
where a passing motorist noticed something in the distance lying on the
ground. She was rescued and made a recovery, if you can call it that.
Thank God, they caught the three thug teenage
males, not men in any respectable sense. The three trash appeared in court
and when the judge asked the jury to deliberate, the jurors said they didn't
need time to deliberate, because they had already decided. The judge told
them they had to deliberate, it was the rules, so they walked out and
immediately came back in... Our verdict is GUILTY! Those three bastards
didn't get the death penalty, because the ungodly federal government and
state of Florida don't allow it. Isn't that sickening? They all received
life in prison. Amen!
The amazing thing is what happened next. After
the court ruling, the victim entered into the courtroom and the newsmedia
and their cameras all focused attention upon the woman. She was asked by a
reporter if she could ever “forgive and forget.” She said, although she
could never forget what they had done to hurt her, having to see her
disfigured face each time she gazes into a mirror, she had already forgiven
them! She said, “I am a born-again Christian and I am commanded to forgive!”
Wow! Grown men in the courtroom among the newsmedia began to cry. Hands were
trembling. One reporter asked, “How can you forget what they did to you?”
She replied, “Although I can never forget what they did to hurt me, I don't
have to forget to forgive!” Wow, what a precious Christian lady!
As a Christian you don't have to forget to
forgive, just so long as you don't ever forget that you're forgiven. I hope
you'll listen to this precious MP3 sermon by Dr. David Gibbs Jr., it is a
life-changing message if you'll let it. The sermon was preached in April of
2004. Again, it is titled, “The
Essence Of A Christian.”
Dr. Gibbs is right, the Holy Bible never tells
us to only forgive someone if they ask for our forgiveness. We're supposed
to forgive everyone, no matter what! The Bible doesn't command for us to
forgive only if the offender stops hurting us. Stephen was the first of the
apostles to be martyred, and as they were in the very act of killing him, he
said in Acts 7:60b, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” As the
soldiers were mocking Jesus, whom they had just nailed to a cross, doing
their job, the Lord cried out in Luke 23:34b, “Father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do.” Jesus cried out for the Father to forgive
them, because He already had. Isn't that beautiful? The Lord had already
forgiven them. The first thing that Jesus said to Judas after he betrayed
Him was, “Friend” (Matthew 26:50b). That my dear reader is the
essence of a Christian.
Learn To Forgive Yourself
One of the hardest things to do is to forgive
ourselves for past failures and sins. If you aren't a Christian, why not?
It's free! If you are a born-again
Christian, then your sins have been cleansed away by the precious blood of
Jesus. Revelation 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of
the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood.” It is good to have regrets. First, it
shows that you're a normal human being. There's no such thing as a perfect
human. We are all woeful sinners in God's holy eyes (Romans 3:23).
Although hypocritical people will never let you
live down your past mistakes and crimes, God offers a complete pardon.
Psalms 103:10-12, “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so
great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
If you get on an airplane and fly north, at some point you'll be going
south. The same is true, except the opposite, if you fly south. Ah, but if
you travel east, you'll NEVER reach a point when you'll find west. You could
fly around the earth forever, traveling east, and you'll never be going
west. Likewise, you could move west forever and never find east. This is why
God said He'll remove our sins from us, as far as the east is from the west.
Isn't that beautiful!!!
King David commit adultery with Bath-Sheba, got
her pregnant, and then murdered her husband Uriah to try to hide what he had
done. Although David was sorry and repented to God, many people condemned
David. At some point David came to the realization that He had sinned
against God alone, since sin is the breaking of GOD'S COMMANDMENTS. Thus,
God's opinion was the ONLY opinion that mattered when it came to his sins.
Psalms 51:4, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.”
So keep your head up friend, regardless of what
you have done in your past, because God is a God of second chances. I'm sure
you've heard the Biblical story of Jonah, who ran from God's will, and was
swallowed by a whale. Jonah repented and God gave him a second chance to go
preach the Gospel to the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh, in Assyria. I
love the following verse... Jonah 3:1, “And the word of the LORD came
unto Jonah the second time, saying.” There
are rarely any second chances in man's cruel system, but God gives second
chances. If you've placed your trust in Christ's sacrifice on the cross for
your sins (1st Corinthians 15:1-4), and His bodily resurrection three days
later as our heavenly High Priest (Romans 8:34), then your sins past,
present and future have been washed away by Jesus' precious blood in God's
eyes. This does not mean that it's ok to intentionally live in sin, because
God will chastise His children who sin (Hebrews 12:6-8), but it does mean
that you can NEVER lose your salvation, because it is the gift of God, and
your redemption is based upon God's imputed righteousness to you, and not
upon your self-righteousness (Romans 4:5-6; Philippians 3:9; Romans 10:3-4;
2nd Corinthians 5:21).
Learn To Live Above The Clouds
If you understand this Biblical truth, that is,
that God has PROMISED to judge all mankind for their every word, thought and
deed, then you can LET EVERYTHING GO INTO GOD'S HANDS FOR JUDGMENT DAY. As
Christians, we all need to learn to live above the clouds!!! LIVE ABOVE THE
CLOUDS!!! If you live under the clouds, then you'll become drenched in the
rains of criticism, jealousy, hatred and people problems. Ah, but if we live
above the clouds, fellowshipping with the Lord in Heavenly places, then we
will always see the Son shining. Amen!
Colossians 3:1-2, “If ye then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” What a precious
Scripture passage!!! Could the Holy Bible be any plainer? I think not. We
are even told NOT to set our affection on the things of earth (money,
people, problems, bills, relatives, marriage woes, et cetera). We are
admonished to SET OUR AFFECTION ON THINGS ABOVE. What are your interests?
The word “affection” in Colossians 3:2 is the
Greek word phroneo, and means “to exercise the mind, that is,
entertain or have a sentiment or opinion; by implication to be (mentally)
disposed (more or less earnestly in a certain direction); intensively to
interest oneself in (with concern or obedience).” Simply put, what are your
passions in life? Are you passionate about contending for the Biblical
faith? Are you interested in soul-winning, to rescue the perishing from the
imminent Lake of Fire? Are you passionate about serving God, helping others
in Jesus' name and making a difference for Christ? Are you interesting in
laying up treasures in Heaven? Do you desire to help missionaries? How about
assisting your local church? There is so much that needs to be done. How
about volunteering your talents for God's use? God is looking for willing
servants. But, you must be born-again or it's all done in vain.
Or are your more interesting in becoming
financially secure here on earth? Are you more passionate about pleasures,
eating and drinking? What is it that stirs your soul each day, the reason
for which you awake to face another day? I'd hate to think that the answer
is a dead-end job or worldly career, that when it's all over in 30-40 years,
you'll have nothing of eternal value to show for it. Most people are
passionate about trifle things: a boat, jet-ski, golf clubs, scuba-diving,
skiing, fishing, et cetera. There's nothing wrong with those interests if
they do not dominate your thinking. The Word of God commands us to set our
passions and interests upon THINGS ABOVE IN HEAVEN, where Christ awaits us
as Christians. Certainly, forgiving OTHERS is thinking from above. It is not
Christlike to be forgiven, but TO FORGIVE!
If I can forgive, so can you. I have been
defrauded, cheated, lied to, taken advantage of, ignored, provoked, lied
about, mistreated, and slandered, by countless ungodly people during my
life. Yet, I decided a long time ago just to place them all into God's hands
for judgment, and to forgive them. Forgiveness is letting a matter go into
God's hands, trusting God's PROMISE in Romans 12:19 that He will avenge all
wrongs in eternity.
Forgiveness is a choice. I have a choice
whether or not to forgive you, Ah, but wouldn't it be great as Christian
believers if we had a reservoir of forgiveness stored-up in our soul, so
that we would decide to forgive everybody in advance, long before they hurt
us, so that we don't have to wait until they ask for our forgiveness (which
they may never do)? I decided long ago that I was just going to forgive
everybody, because God has already forgiven me of all my horrible list of
sins. James 2:10 teaches that breaking even one law of God makes a person
guilty of breaking all of them. This is because committing even one sin is
enough to send a person to Hell forever. Here is a wonderful passage of
Scripture from Ephesians, which teaches us to forgive (not as men forgive,
which says... I'll forgive you if you forgive me); but rather, as
God's forgives (which says, You're already forgiven, because I have a
reservoir of God's unconditional love stored up in me). ...
Ephesians
4:30-32, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and
clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
It's so typical of a heathen society to jump on
the bandwagon, without knowing the facts, nor having any proof of
allegations, believing what they hear without verification. Acts
19:30-32, “And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the
disciples suffered him not. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his
friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself
into the theatre. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for
the assembly was confused; and THE MORE PART KNEW NOT WHEREFORE THEY WERE
COME TOGETHER.” A few hateful enemies of the Apostle Paul incited a
large mob of people to cry our against him, and the Bible says most of them
didn't even know why they were there. That is exactly what has happened
against Dr. Jack Hyles and his son. A few hateful enemies of Dr. Hyles'
successful 55 year ministry and uncompromising stand for God, have incited
many people to attack and slander him and his loved ones, being totally
ignorant of the truth of the matter.
Some of the most bitterest Christians in world
lurk in online forums,
slandering everyone they don't like. People
need to shut up! That is the Devil working. The Apostle Paul was a
struggling sinner (1st Corinthians
7:14-25). There is not a Christian alive who is without sin (1st John 1:10).
Jesus said to the religious, self-righteous, hypocrites in John 8:7, “He
that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Put
your stones down! Independent Fundamentalists are some of the worst
hypocrites, hiding behind a cloak of righteous indignation. The last I
checked, Romans 3:23 indicts all humanity as being sinful. There's is a gang
of religious thugs in churches today, and on the internet, who go around
assassinating the spiritually wounded. They have nothing better to do with
their time than to post retarded opinions about other people's faults, in
forums owned and operated by heathens, which fraudulently pretend to be
Christian.
Few Christians understand just how sinful we
all are in God's eyes. James 2:10, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love
covereth all sins. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all...” Committing even one sin makes us
guilty of all sins. This is because even one sin is enough to send us into
the Lake of Fire forever. No sinner can enter into Heaven without being
born-again (John 3:5). We are saved solely by Christ's righteousness (2nd
Corinthians 5:21). And a good thing, for we have no self-righteousness of
our own to offer God (Isaiah 64:6).
I wish all of the online forums would
disappear, because they're just being used to slander, disrespect and
further assassinate the character of fellow brethren. God hates sowing
discord amongst brethren (Proverb 6:19). There's way too much unnecessary
fighting in America's churches today. Exposing the wicked who publicly
parade their sins and publicly attempt to justify evil need to be exposed
(Ephesians 5:11); however, it is wrong for anyone to condemn or publicly
berate a Christians who falters on a personal level. Matthew 6:15, “But
if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses.”
The Bible says in James 4:12, “There is one
Lawgiver, Who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest
another?” When you point the finger, there are 3 fingers coming back at
you. Every believer has doddled at times in life. No one is worthy of
anything. We all deserve to plunge immediately into Hell because of our
wickedness. Who are we to judge anyone? Only a self-righteous hypocrite
would accuse someone of doddling. We have all come short of God's
righteousness (Romans 3:23). That's why Jesus came to pay our sin debt!
Jesus came to make things right, because we cannot. In John 16:33, Jesus
encouraged us to be of good cheer, because He has overcome this wicked
world.
Perilous Times Are Here, Especially For
Christians
The U.S. Constitution deems a citizen innocent
until proven guilty. Tragically, in today's sicko American society a person
is guilty until proven innocent, which is impossible. Any society that
legalizes abortion and homosexual marriage is sick. The stigma sticks.
Once you're accused, true or not, you have been labeled for life. An accused
person might as well have the mark of Cain upon them (Genesis 4:15). This is
a horrible injustice in America, which exists because of the wickedness of
our nation. What do we expect from
a nation
that honors witches!
The newsmedia, your enemies, Wikipedia and the
cesspool of online forums will make sure to spread every negative,
defamatory and injurious detail and remark ever made about you. This is
especially true for anyone of high profile, such as a celebrity or famous
minister. Dr. Hyles changed a nation for God, turning many to righteousness!
It is not surprising that so many ingrates have attacked Dr. Hyles, when you
consider that Jesus Christ
Himself is still under constant attack even 2,000 years after He walked
this earth . . .
In Matthew 27:63,
evil men called Jesus a liar
and a deceiver.
In John 7:20 and John 8:52,
evil men called Jesus demon-possessed.
In John 10:20, evil men called Jesus crazy.
In John 8:41, evil men called Jesus a bastard.
Nearly 2,000 years after Jesus
walked this earth, evil men today still portray the Savior as being an
adulterer, a conspirator, a bastard, crazy, a homosexual, a fraud and a liar.
Whom do you say
Jesus is—Liar, lunatic or Lord? Jesus is precious!
Jesus never sinned even once (2nd
Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was holy and perfect in every way.
Yet, His enemies found enough fault in Him to nail Him to a cross and kill
Him. If they did that to our Lord and Savior, prey tell me, what do you
think our enemies will do to us?
Many people today are being
unjustly attacked on the basis of unsubstantiated hearsay. Just because your house is on fire and
your neighbor is holding a gas can, doesn't mean that your neighbor set your
house on fire. America has become insane with accusing each other. A person
who walks with God tends to give others the benefit of the doubt.
At the time of hurricane Katrina,
over
4,000 of 7,500 inmates had never even been charged in court (shocking
video). Some people were imprisoned for nothing more than j-walking. Many
prisoners didn't even know why they were arrested. Due to a lack of city
funds in New Orleans, many inmates were locked up for several months, when
they should have been released in just a few days. This type of injustice
has saturated America. Anybody can say anything about anyone, and then you
end up in the court system and prison. It is one's fundamental
Constitutional right to be deemed innocent until proven guilty in a court of
law.
This 57-year old man ran a red
light on a bicycle, and
the cops bashed his front teeth out on the sidewalk and brutally beat
him. The cops lied in court, which was later proven. Police nationwide are
being militarized by the Illuminati via the CIA (i.e., Homeland Security),
treating citizens like battlefield combatants. America has become insane!
Injustice abounds, the love of many people is growing cold, and no one
trusts each other anymore. Americans are in denial, refusing to acknowledge
the elephant in the living room. The Illuminati control our nation.
The newsmedia will eat their young by distorting the facts, misrepresenting
the truth and mercilessly destroying people's lives. If it's reported by the
newsmedia, it must be true, right? It is sad, but true, people gullibly
believe whatever they hear, true or false. And they will condemn you to Hell
for the rest of your life, enraged with hatred and bitterness; because they
know not God the Father, nor Jesus Christ. To revel in the calamity of
others is wickedness. Proverb 17:5, “Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth
his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.”
It is sinful to rejoice in the woes of others. We have become
a sick-minded
nation that is glad to see death, atrocity and evil.
Think On These Things.
It's been nearly 2,000 years and
yet so many people today hate Jesus, and still try to find fault with Him,
just as the wicked Pharisees did. Many historians wickedly try to uncover
some detail under some rock that will discredit the Lord Jesus, shame His
testimony and destroy His credibility. Try as they may, they have failed,
and so they fabricate every malicious lie about the precious Savior.
So what do you think our enemies
will say about us? While the righteous expose the wicked for parading their
sins publicly, and for attempting to publicly justify their wickedness; the
wicked pry under every rock, maliciously plotting against the righteous,
monitoring our every move with a magnifying glass, just waiting for any
fault or sin that they can use to destroy our name, assassinate our
character and discredit our work for God. Our intent is good; their intent
is evil.
If this sinful world found fault,
where there was no fault, in our precious Lord and Savior and nailed Him to
a cross; then you can be assured that they will nail us to a cross as well
when we are less than perfect. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
It is sad and tragic how much misinformation, unfounded allegations, slander
and hate is spread under the pretense of good intentions. Proverb 10:12
teaches that hatred “Hatred stirreth up
strifes: but love covereth all sins.” Say what you will, it is pure
hatred that fuels the continuous rehashing and bashing of Christians in
online forums and on Wikipedia. Please read,
Wikipedia Lies, Slander Continue.
