NO TRUE SAINT WILL BE LEFT BEHIND

By Jonathan Brentner -

 

When Jesus comes for His church, will He leave any true believer behind on the earth to endure the horrors of the tribulation?

 

Some say yes. They claim Jesus will only catch up believers who are watching for His appearing or those walking with Him at the time. In other words, the Lord will leave behind saints lacking in some way.

 

This teaching contradicts both the Gospel and God's Word.

 

Let me first clarify my assertion; I am referring to those who are truly in Christ and already in possession of eternal life (see 1 John 5:11-12). All those truly redeemed by the blood of the Lamb will meet Jesus in the air when He appears to take his church back to His Father's house in heaven, no exceptions!

 

Professing Christians who do not truly know Jesus as their Savior will miss out on the rapture. Many rely on things such as good works, church attendance, the sinner's prayer, or some other achievement, things that by themselves do not constitute saving faith. Because they are not in Christ and thereby do not possess eternal life, they will miss out on the rapture.

 

Let me explain my key objections to the teaching of a partial rapture.

 

The Partial Rapture Contradicts the Gospel

 

My first objection is this: the partial rapture teaching contradicts the saving message of the Gospel.

 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

 

We receive eternal life by grace through faith, not as a result of our works or faithfulness. The Lord regenerates us and gives the faith to believe. From start to finish, our salvation is all about Jesus and the Spirit's saving and preserving work inside us (Titus 3:4-7).

 

L. Moody once said, "It takes the same grace to keep us saved as it does to save us." From start to finish, our salvation is all about grace; works play no part whatsoever in our initial salvation or in our final glorification.

 

Our reception of glorified bodies at the time of the rapture is no more dependent upon our good behavior than at the initial moment of our salvation. From beginning to end, God allows no room for anyone to claim credit for ourselves. No one has a cause for boasting because of good works.

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

 

The basis of our salvation is the righteousness of Jesus. As believers we are already "holy and blameless before" God simply because of our position in Christ (Eph. 1:3-4). We add nothing to our salvation from start to finish.

 

The claim that any believer needs further purification insults God's work on our behalf and implies that Jesus' righteousness applied to our account leaves us lacking to enjoy the final redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:23-25). The partial rapture teaching insults the work of Jesus on our behalf.

 

The Partial Rapture Contradicts Paul's Promise in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

 

Another reason to oppose the teaching of a partial rapture is its blatant contradiction of God's Word. For the purposes of this article, I will just cite one passage from Scripture that contradicts the doctrine of a partial rapture.

 

In 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, Paul writes, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him."

 

The wrath in this text belongs to the day of the Lord or what we refer to as the tribulation. In these verses we have the Lord's promise that He will come for His church before the wrath of this day begins, which I believe solidifies our belief in the pretribulation rapture.

 

When Jesus returns, He delivers both those who are "awake or asleep" from God's wrath that is coming upon the world. Since Paul just wrote about the rapture including both living saints and the "dead in Christ" (1 Thess. 4:16-17), many carry that same meaning to 5:10 thinking it refers to both dead and living saints.

 

While it's true the rapture will include both living and dead saints, that is not what Paul refers to in 1 Thessalonians 5:10.

 

The Greek verb Paul uses for "awake" in this verse is gregoreo, which denotes alertness. In 5:6, Paul uses the word along with that of being "sober" to portray the idea of temperance in our walk with the Lord versus that of drunkenness or carelessness. Jesus used gregoreo in Matthew 24:42 and Mark 13:35 to command our watchfulness for His return.

 

It's the sense of watchfulness and sober living that the apostle characterizes as being "awake" in 1 Thessalonians 5:10 rather than the sense of being physically alive. Paul is referring back to the immediate context.

 

What about those whom Paul characterizes as being "asleep?" Who are these people?

 

The word Paul uses for sleep in in 5:10 is katheudo. This word can refer to someone who is physically asleep, but it's rarely used of someone who had died. Of the 22 times this word appears in the New Testament, there is only one time when it seems to apply to someone who had died.

 

Earlier in 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul uses katheudo with definite moral implications applying the word to believers who are not walking with the Lord or watching for His return (v. 6). It's the opposite of someone not careful about how he or she behaves as a believer.

 

This is not the same word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-16 "asleep" in regard to a believer who has died. Paul's choice of a different word in 5:10 further indicates to us that the contrast in this verse is not between living and dead saints, but rather with those who are watching for Jesus' return versus those who are not careful about their walk with the Lord.

 

The sense of 1 Thessalonians 5:10 is that both those who are alert spiritually as well as those who are not will be included in the rapture; Jesus will not leave any true saint behind whether they remain watchful for His appearing or not.

 

I know this might be hard for some, but what Paul is saying in this verse is that all true believers will participate in the rapture regardless of the closeness of their walk with the Lord or watchfulness at the time it occurs.

 

Why Walk with the Lord?

 

At this point you might be wondering why you should walk with the Lord. If Jesus will whisk all those who know Him to heaven when He appears, what difference does it make if I walk with Him?

 

It makes a huge difference.

 

The New Testament teaches that all believers will give an account of their lives to Jesus (Rom. 14:12; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 4:12-13). Faithful service will be rewarded (1 Cor. 15:58); saints who neglect their spiritual gifts and opportunities to serve the Lord with those provisions will suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ, but they will not lose their salvation or miss out on the rapture.

 

In 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul writes of a special reward for "all who have loved his appearing." Even though the apostle died long before Jesus' return, the Lord will reward Paul for remaining watchful for His appearing. A special reward awaits those who remain alert to the Lord's imminent return.

 

Another factor consists of the changes God makes in the lives of those who belong to Him. We become a "new creation" according to 2 Corinthians 5:17. The Holy Spirit regenerates those of us at the moment of our salvation and afterward acts as a force within us, motivating us to serve the Lord. This does not mean we do not sin, but that we feel uncomfortable remaining in that state for a lengthy amount of time.

 

Our identity as holy and blameless children of God (Eph. 1:3-14) also enables us to resist sin and motivates us to serve the Lord.

 

The bottom line is this: no matter where true saints of the Lord are at in their walk with Him, they will receive glorified bodies when Jesus comes for His church. Regardless of their watchfulness at the time of Jesus' return or the closeness of their walk with Him when He appears, they will participate in the rapture.

 

I do not have all the answers, but I know two things for sure. First, God's justification of the sinner is permanent and leads to glorification (Rom. 8:30-39). Nothing can break that chain. We are secure in Christ.

 

Second, Jesus will not leave behind any saint who possesses His righteousness as a result of God's irreversible verdict in justifying us when we were sinners.

No true believer will miss out in the rapture.

 

GOD GIVES US LIBERTY TO CHOOSE EVIL OR GOOD

By Pastor Mike Taylor

" And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
(Matthew 24:12-13)


Our world has been invaded by blatant evil. The news was filled with the rise in the past of an Islamic state called ISIS. Ritual beheadings, crucifixions,  the rape, torture and murder of thousands of Christians, and not to mention, Muslims sects that this evil scourge of the earth deems a heresy to their definition of Islam is covering a wide swath of Syria and into Iraq. Even as ISIS has been beaten down, other sects of terrorism are on the rise. We wonder how can such evil exist in our world?

We are all conscience of the rise of wars, and rumors of wars that have been getting more and more frequent. Wars in the past, like in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Ukraine, North Korea, Syria, and even ISIS were all over the news. No matter what a politician says, this world is becoming more dangerous, not peaceful as our past lame duck president would have had us believe. Ever notice the amount of earthquakes that have exponentially grown in the last 10 years? The earth is being shaken and tribulation is coming upon the earth. I’m not talking about  the 7 last years of God’s wrath, written in Daniel, spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24, in Revelation, and Paul spoke of in 1st Thessalonian chapter 5. I’m talking about the run-up to this awful period of human history known as the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation. These signs are a warning, a trumpet call to those who will listen and repent before it is too late. Now let us turn to what has caught the attention of the “lame stream media” and has gotten everyone becoming afraid….PESTILENCE. 

Not long ago we read about how the Ebola virus had spread over all Western Africa and having threatened to become a pandemic over the entire world. In the recent past, this “mutated” disease has come to America’s shore and the citizens are worried. Now I’m not into conspiracy theories, but it is being reported that this new form of Ebola is not a natural occurring phenomenon, but a man-made,( in the laboratory), form of a biological weapon and tested on the unsuspecting African people. 
That experiment has gone awry and it has spread exponentially and mistakenly brought to the USA. Or was it a mistake? Then a reported hastily made vaccine that could kill more people than it will protect. The only thing that stands in the way of a one world government and a one world religion is the citizens of the USA and their guns, which comprise what is left of freedom in this world and the policing with military might of despotic rulers that wish to rule the world. What an evil thought, if it be true, that someone would use a deadly disease or a vaccine to bring panic, death, and martial law to the only obstacle in their path for complete rule over the earth. I wonder with just these two instances of the diabolical intent of someone in a leadership position to impose their will on the population of the USA, and the world. 
It has been reported and I’m not saying it’s true, but we’ll keep ours eyes and ears open to any possibility of an attack or treason on the American people. The only thing that is holding back rampant evil and overtaking the last hope of freedom which is found in the USA is the present administration which is like the little boy putting his finger in the hole of the dike to hold back a flood to cover the earth. One man can only do so much. Our country is slowly drifting toward a socialist belief and doing away with what made this country great.

 However, I would not be surprised if this coming attack were true, as I remember the stories of syphilis being introduced into the black population of the USA, just to see what it’s effects would be on this minority community. Many untold black men and women died as a result. Or how about the military using our own soldiers to test the effect of radiation during the development of the atomic bomb in the Marshal Islands, and in New Mexico? Again, unsuspecting guinea pigs called our soldiers were exposed to deadly radiation and died as a result. Would our government do such a thing? This is just an example of what evil men in power would do to an unsuspecting population. In times past, they have done the aforementioned atrocities to their fellow men, in the name of science and military warfare. Would someone in a position of authority or a group of elites also release a plague, such as Ebola on the citizens of the USA to further their plans on world domination? History tells us, there are men that would do such a horrible deed at the expense of millions dying from it’s release into our environment. How can such evil exist you may wonder? RACIAL HATRED BREEDS DEATH

Then we have racial tensions in my home state of Missouri where in the recent past, two black teenagers at different times were shot during a commission of a crime. One during an assault on a police officer in uniform, and the other during a burglary robbery where the perpetrator shot at an off duty policeman doing private security work and was subsequently shot numerous times during the fire fight. Now the community was all fired up over police brutality. They speak of justice for the black teens, and called it police brutality and evil, but the young men would not have been part of being shot, if they had followed the law, now would they? Both the acts are evil, if the police overstepped their bounds in enforcing the law or the two teens were committing crimes against law enforcement during the commission of a crime. Both acts would be deemed evil. It seems to me, that the world as we know it, is falling apart. There is no social right or wrong, just the evil expressed by evil men with only one thing in mind….power over other men.


I have heard the outrage, the expressed horror of people of this nation in national news coverage of terrorist cells, (such as ISIS in the past) and their murderous rampage, or in Missouri over police actions, and on the internet over this Ebola scare that rail out in raw emotions asking why. They ask, “why would a God, if there be one, allow this type of evil in our world?". Could not God have intervened and stopped these senseless acts? This further re-enforces their own preconceived notions that there is no God. Instead of looking inward, they express rage outward at the Creator. They want gun control, they want safety at the expense of their God given freedoms, or they want the government to take care of them? They want the 2nd amendment abolished or hack away at our Constitutional rights from a culpable media using scare tactics to further the one world agenda. They want, they want, they want, but will never find the answer in themselves. To their question, why does God allow evil? It is in one word.....LIBERTY.  From the beginning, when God made man, He made him a being of free moral choice.


To accomplish this, God gave men free moral agency to enable us to choose to follow His way and assist in the development of His image in us, since we cannot be in His image unless we voluntarily choose to do so. Then the character is truly ours, as well as being truly His, because it is inscribed in us as a result of what we have believed and experienced. Humans have not changed for over 6000 years since the bible was being written down by men of God who were moved by the Holy Spirit. It was the same in the day Joshua took the nation of Israel into the Promised Land that he admonished them:24:14 “ Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
24:15  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

To start, it is necessary to understand from the beginning of creation, which extends to even the angels , man was given choice. God is not a dictatorial tyrant, but a loving God that gave man all the tools to be successful and told him how to use these tools to insure prosperity both in the natural and spiritual world.  After giving the introduction to how God operates then answer a question with a question, “do you like your every move being dictated by another person or do you put a high premium on an individual having the freedom to make decisions for him/herself”?  Of course not, you rebel at the very suggestion and so it is from creation God knew this and that is why he created man giving him choice. It comes down to one simple concept....Liberty.


To not have liberty to choose, then man is not really free. God in His loving kindness has given mankind the tools to make proper choices based on God's way, even the laws that He laid down from creating this universe, this world, and the very first man. God gave Adam the free moral agency to choose to follow God's example and follow Him, or to follow another god. God wants each of us to choose Him above all other influences in this world. What are those other influences outside of God? Yes, Satan, the devil. Satan has used the fallen state of man, when he tempted our first parents with transgressing the commandment of Almighty God. Satan knows that if he can just divide our loyalties between following God and following our own lusts, he can destroy man.FROM ANCIENT TO OUR MODERN WORLD


Fast forward from ancient times to a newly country formed out of rebellion against tyranny. A nation formed out of man's desire to choose his own destiny, but in direct submission to the Laws of God. The young United States of America was formed based on a solid Rock foundation that was laid as a corner stone to form this nation. The Rock was the Ten Commandments and the Judeo-Christian belief in the only God found in their bible. What better choice, but to form a nation based on clear instructions founded in God's Holy Word?


From those humble beginnings, God blessed this nation like no other in all of recorded human history. We had our ups and downs, to include our wars fought in the name of liberty and freedom to choose.

Liberty founded in man's right to choose good or evil was what we were fighting for in our own Civil War and two major wars in this last century. From those fields of battle, the United States has become the most powerful force on earth by God's own blessings on a people who, as a majority, put their trust in the God of our Fathers.
A NATION ADRIFT


Our national ship of state has taken a different path in the last 50 plus years. We have charted a different course other than what we followed in it's previous 150 years. I propose that our nation began it's demise starting in 1960s when a loud and obnoxious atheist by the name of Madelyn O'Hare brought suit against allowing prayer in public schools. Our own Supreme Court went against the clear historical underpinnings of what this country was built upon. It violated the first Amendment to the Constitution by subverting the intent of it's language.

 “Congress cannot make a law that favors the establishment of one particular religion; that prohibits the free exercise of religion; or that restricts freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to gather and engage in peaceful demonstrations and to petition the government for redress of their grievances.”

We were given the free moral choice by God to express our freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.


Why was the Supreme Court allowed to change the meaning of the law clearly expressed from our founding fathers? Liberty is the answer. Why did the nation accept this intrusion into our God given rights? Liberty is again, the answer.


From there, it has been a slippery slope for the America that we had known. Children born into this country were brought up devoid of a knowledge of right and wrong. They didn't need God, as humans could take care of themselves. I got an email from a reader that had an interesting quote put on a T-shirt, and it is so true. The shirt was a question from a student to God. 

“God why do you allow our children to be killed in our schools? signed student......I'M NOT ALLOWED IN SCHOOL. signed God”

 Is that not the truth? We kicked God out of our schools and not allowing our little impressionable children to be taught the existence of God, to be allowed to pray for His blessings, or to bring them to a knowledge of good vs. evil. Instead we have replaced it with paganism in the form of evolution theory, humanism, and liberalism.

From that deplorable beginning forced on us by a pagan, we progressed even further down into the pit. In 1973, the Supreme Court in all it's “divine” wisdom decided Roe v. Wade in favor of legalized abortion on demand. Why was this allowed?...Liberty! We chose evil over good in direct conflict with the Laws of God. “Thou shalt not murder”. We have murdered a whole generation of the unborn. How dare we complain that we don’t have enough people working to fund Social Security as we have killed a whole generation of American tax payers. We murdered children in and out of the womb and have enforced this slaughter and God allowed it...why? Liberty! Another culture had the same problem of poor choices of liberty, as we have experienced as written in Jeremiah,19:5  “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
19:6  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.”(Jeremiah 19:5-6)

These people were allowed to destroy their children, their sons, and their daughters in a fiery altar in worship to a pagan god, Molech and we have done likewise to the god of self, humanism. Why was this so? Liberty!

LIBERTY REQUIRES JUSTICE

But God has a limit to His Holy patience. He gives men the right to choose, but there comes a time, that liberty produces another product of that liberty....JUSTICE!! Without liberty there is no justice. To make good choices based on God's law and His commandments produces blessings, but to do evil in the sight of God according to His giving men the right to liberty, there comes a time when justice will be enacted. It is sure as the sun will shine tomorrow. My friend, justice is coming.
 AMERICA IN PROPHECY

Isaiah prophesied of a people in the end of days that would rise to power, but fall by the sword. It speaks of God's coming judgment on this nation found in your bible. Many say that the United States is not mentioned in the bible, but oh, yes, I think it is. It's not mentioned by name, but by it's symptoms of lawlessness."Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!" (Isaiah 18:1, 2)

  

 The nation described in this text is in dire difficulty with God because the opening word is judgmental. God says, “Woe,” and the term always connotes judgment. I believe it speaks of America, (as I include this quote from another minister),  because of the following reasons:
“1. This nation has the insignia of wings. Similar to our national emblem, the bald eagle, with extended wings could be this insignia.  People in other parts of the world recognize the symbol of America.  I list more reasons  that are only a small sampling of the descriptions given us in the bible that distinctly describes the U.S. from any other nation in the end time.
2. This nation is a land beyond the sea. Israel is always the focal point in Bible prophecy. So the message of warning is directed to a far country beyond Ethiopia and across the sea from Israel. This designation eliminates Europe, Asia, and Africa. It eliminates Iraq where Babylon was because it is not across the sea from Israel.  Instead it is directed to a nation with outstretched wings across the sea from Israel and America qualifies.
3. This nation is scattered and peeled. Scattered here means to be widely spread out or having great land areas.
4. This nation is measured. This accurately describes the U.S. with its counties, cities, and states. The next time you fly across America by air notice the staked out acres tens of thousands of miles completely measured and marked.
5. This nation is a land whose rivers are spoiled. Ecological experts vouch that this significant prophecy has occurred in our waterways. Isaiah simply tells us that dreadful judgment will come upon a nation with outstretched wings, beyond the seas of Israel; a nation with vast measured land areas and polluted waters. Water tables and aquifers are polluted with drugs and chemical waste as recent news story points out.
So you can see from this prophecy judgment is pending with the word “woe” being used and no other nation in the end time meets this description. We are a nation that has rejected God and what is happening in our country we brought on ourselves. God gave us choices and we made that choice so we must live with the consequences of those decisions.” (David Lamon, Why God Allows Evil. )

Woe to the land who calls evil good, and good evil.

 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”(Isaiah 5:20-21)
Woe to them who embrace clear instructions of the Laws of God, especially when it comes to human sexuality as found in Romans 1,
1:24 “ Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
1:26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
1:27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”(Romans 1:24-28)

The world is rampant with homosexuality and no place is more prevalent than in the USA, the cradle of Judeo-Christian belief in modern history. Why is this so? Again, it's Liberty. Young men and women have grown up devoid of the need for God. They have not been taught for generations the ways of the Lord. Their parents, their grandparents have been liberal thinkers. They don't need God, and their children were not taught so they grew up not needing God, and believing such lies.

I have met men and women who in themselves, are good people in all moral aspects, save one. They profess that they are gay and are proud of it. They believe God will not judge them as evil, because they do so much other good for children, or other people. But these same people adopt children to teach them their perverted lifestyle and our courts allow it by law. They ignore the clear message noted above. They feel God will ignore this one indiscretion. Will God ignore this sin? No, or God would be a liar and we know He cannot lie. He would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if He did so. Why have they chosen to go against the laws of God clearly stated? Liberty! God has given them over to their own selfish lusts and blinded them to the truth of His Word. Why? Because they have believed the lie of humanism and believe they are just as righteous as the next person. God turned them over to a reprobate mind to believe such lawlessness. Woe to a land who embraces such sinfulness, as we have.

Woe to this land who from the beginning was endowed by our Creator with “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Woe to a nation who forgets their Benefactor, the source of life, their strength, and their national resolve to follow Him. For more than fifty years since 1963, the USA has wallowed in the mire of its own self interest devoid of accountability to the One who made us great......Almighty God, in whom we said “In God We Trust.” We were given so much, but those given so much, much is required.

 Luke 12:4 “for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” 

 Exodus 34:14 “for thou shalt worship no other god (that includes you and me): for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

 We have substituted the love of money and love of self over the love of God.GUARANTEED DESTRUCTION COMING TO THE USA

Woe to a nation who stands against the apple of His eye and wishes to divide His land. In the past, the USA has been a strong supporter of the nation of Israel. From it's inception, the USA has been at Israel's side. Troubling policies that came from this past administration, and previous presidents who desired to divide Israel and it's capital, Jerusalem. My belief, it was the only thing saving us from certain judgment was being on Israel's side. Right now, Israel is being again treated as a friend and an ally, reversing the last “Idiot in chief” who was the worst enemy in a time of peace that Israel had the displeasure of knowing. Our God has been patient and God has given us warning signs after warning signs of His desire for us to come back to Him. Just as He did other ancient people who were called to follow His laws, and abide by His Word. How long will Israel enjoy friendship with the USA? Will it end with the next Democratic POTUS who will throw Israel under the bus?
 WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAST 50 YEARS?

   I remember when President Reagan was in office and at his farewell address, he mentioned that America was that “shining city set on a hill” which beckoned to all the world as a source of goodness and freedom to others who yearned for that freedom. But no more can America say they are a source that others in the world look to for leadership, goodness, and freedom grounded in a belief in the moral standards found in our bibles. The world laughs at the evil coming out of Washington DC who wants to do away with American sovereignty and make is part of a “one world government”. America has replaced the God of the bible with pornography, hedonism, paganism, abortion, sexual perversion of every sort including adultery, homosexuality, and prostitution and most everything that is Anti-God. We have abandoned the pillars of our country that it was founded upon and replaced God as our protector and guardian with a worship of the self, humanism. We are all about pleasure of the self in anyway that our twisted minds have envisioned and feel is right in our own mind. 
12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.

14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.”( Proverbs 14:12-14)

Even in my home state of Missouri there is evil that abounds, but there is a true explanation for what is taking place not just in Missouri, but to mention all the shootings we have had in recent years in various schools,  but all over the country with the current leadership we in our government centered in Washington DC.  I realize in American society with Democrat liberals being in charge of our public schools and universities our children have been indoctrinated to only makes them feel good about themselves.  They call it self-esteem but in the process have redefined it away from it original meaning.  They teach it is a right not an earned trait one acquires through trial and error or working for it.  There is no right and wrong and it is whatever they think it is.  In other words, they are taught not to accept responsibility for themselves but blame it on something or someone else. This is a huge root cause of the problems in American society.  Now we have a generation of parents (black, white and all races found in the USA)  that have grown up and have children of their own but this teaching still resonates within their very being.

Whose fault is that? Of course, it begins at home with the parents. But where do parents learn it from? Do they learn it from their churches? Men and women who even bother to go to church, entrust their salvation to the preacher, to a man to tell them how to live their life. They don't take the time to read God's Word for themselves. They don't know what scripture says about their choices in this life, and the liberalism of the Emergent Church and those that preach a “prosperity Gospel” that has dumbed down the masses with a watered down version of the Gospel. They don't preach the unadulterated Word of God. No, they preach a “feel good” gospel of man. These churches entertain, they reach out for more money and they send their congregations home without clear Bible believing values to instill to their kids. Never mind those that don't even believe in God who wouldn't darken the door of any church to find God, but those inside are clothed with their own self righteousness and haven't a clue what righteous living is all about. Paul mentioned this in Philippians 2:12 to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."  Each of us are responsible to God for our own salvation. And since we don't know how to obtain the righteousness imparted by God, then how can we teach it to our kids?
LIBERTY TO CHOOSE LIFE OVER DEATH

You reading this sermon, I pray I have hit a cord of recognition in your mind and in your heart. Can this nation continue like we have for the last 50 years? I think you know the answer to that one, if you're honest with yourself, then no, we cannot.  This nation needs a revival found in the Word of God. It is sorely needed, but has the judgment of God already begun? The bible says that with this God given liberty to do good or evil, comes justice. God is and will enact judgment and justice upon this land spreading to all the world. How soon? By the clouds of impending doom, the signs point to the near future. I propose that it has already started as our children have grown lawless and become mentally unstable to even consider doing such an act as school shootings in the past. Suicide, as it's been reported, is the number one killer of the young adults 18-30 years old, surpassing trauma of accidents unintentional, to suicides of hopelessness found in our youth. This statistic should make you stand up and say, why? Because of liberty and the right to choose evil over good.

I pray it will only happen when suddenly, millions of people are suddenly without warning taken from this planet in a doctrine called the rapture. Then all evil will break loose and the demise of this country and the rest of the world will rise from the pit of hell to overtake all who are still living on this planet. What holds back unadulterated evil from overpowering this planet, are the people with God's Holy Spirit residing within them. When they are removed, then evil will be left unchecked and free to do its evil deeds.

7 “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,” (2^nd Thessalonians 2:7-9)

It did not have to be so, if we would have chosen wisely and followed our heritage of a God fearing nation. But God knew in His foresight, that prophecy would be fulfilled, most likely in this generation that we live in. But it comes down to the individual, and by extention to other men who are given the correct choices for a life well lived. In the end, it comes down to YOU. Yes, you that are reading these words. You have the liberty to choose. What is your answer? Will you choose evil or good? To choose evil, just continue being a sinful human being with sin inbred in you from birth. It doesn't take any effort on your part to become evil. Men, by nature are evil, as spoken o in Jeremiah,17:9  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”(Jeremiah 17:9-10)

Man is instilled with the nature to do evil, who can know it? Meaning who can understand why men do evil? God knows the reason. He will try each man and will know what he is made of. You see, God knew all along that men would give into the evil nature. They couldn't help themselves. They were born to sin. This sin separates them from the only Hope they have for living a fruitful life here in the present, and living for all eternity in the presence of the One who only wishes to love them. What separates them from God? Sin and evil done because of liberty to choose. Men have tried to be good in their moral character. Upright in their thinking and believing they can save themselves, if they can just be good enough. If you think that, then you have the liberty to be deceived.


But God had a plan to reclaim what Satan has stolen. In the Garden of Eden, Satan won out over man rebelling against the Laws of God, for a time. God knew that men would NEVER be good enough on their own to enter back into a relationship with Him. But how could God get rid of the sin that permeates all of us? God in His matchless wisdom knew that it would take a perfect sacrifice to satisfy what men had done in liberty to sin. It would require payment for that sin, in justice. Remember, the payment for sin requires justice. To accomplish this, as no mortal man could redeem himself, God knew that He would have to become a human being Himself, clothed in mortal flesh and become that sacrifice in justice to reclaim what had been lost.5:7  “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”(Romans 5:7-10)

That was God's plan. He sent His only Begotten Son, which was God in the flesh to become a servant like unto His brethren. John speaks of Him in John chapter 1:1:1  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”(John 1:1-5)

God's plan was to perform a blood sacrifice that would satisfy the payment for sin done in liberty, with justice. To make a choice to understand, to believe that God did send His only begotten Son to die for our sins, your sins, my sins is the epitome of LIBERTY. He doesn't want your devotion because He forced you to do so. He wants your love and devotion because you chose to do so. Can you work good enough to earn this salvation? No, nothing you can do can make it right. It's not of anything done as requirement of mankind's strength and ability, but an act of Grace and mercy given as a free gift by God to a sinful, mortal individual rotten to the core with a mark of death upon it's soul. God made is so simple, many miss this act of faith:8 “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”(Romans 10:8-13)

We have the liberty to choose. We can choose evil, which is easy. Or we can realize that we are completely lost and unable to save ourselves. We can humble ourselves and present ourselves before a Holy God and accept, by faith God's provision of His only Son as the substitution of what we deserved for our liberty to commit sin...which is death. Hebrews,3:12  “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
3:15  While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.” (Hebrews 3:12-15)

Jesus said that “no man cometh to me, unless the Holy Spirit draws Him, and I will raise Him up in the last day

45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. ”. John 6:44-45).

We must understand that we cannot do anything good enough to save our miserable hides. It is not in us, and it is not our nature. But God sends His Holy Spirit to each of us who will listen. He won't bang you over the head, but He will speak to you in a “still small voice”. That is God putting into the spirit within you that He wants you to come home. Come home to the God, the Only God who loves you.

God allows evil because of liberty and if there wasn’t anything but his own way imposed on us what profit would there be for Him or what glory could He receive but only in and of Himself, nothing genuine.  No, God doesn’t want robots to love him but he put a heart and mind within us with the ability to freely serve and love him if we so choose with all of that heart and that is the only way He would have any of us.  He is the eternal God and creator and as for us… As James wrote under Holy Spirit leading,

4:14: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”(James 4:14)

This life is fleeting. Evil is all around you, drowning each of us if we allow it to do so. Take that God given liberty and choose today life over death. Accept the payment for sin in the God/man Jesus Christ while the invitation is open. It could close without warning.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

This is pastor Mike Taylor, praying God's salvation found in Jesus Christ, comes into your life. If you need counseling, prayer, or just a listening ear email me at pastormiketaylor@yahoo.com, 

God bless you, till we meet at Jesus Feet.