Pastor John,
Beth and I were having a conversation, and she told me that one thing she is very thankful to Jesus for is the fact that her young teenage son knows that to serve God, to be right with God, he must have this holy Ghost baptism from Jesus, just like his mother and I have received. Beth told me that her boy has told her that very thing.
After she told me this, Jesus showed me something: Beth’s son will continue to believe the simple truth that she and I have taught him unless one day God calls him to repentance, and he decides that he wants to go his own way instead. Then, if that happens, he will either invent a doctrine to ease his conscience, or he will embrace one of the many doctrines that already exist – just for that very reason.
The lesson that the Lord was showing me was not about my wife’s son; it was about all of mankind.
The truth is easy for men to see when they are indifferent about it. The Lord was showing me that when men have “no skin in the game”, as the saying goes, then it is easy for them to see what is right.
I then remembered the many times, brother John, that you have told us how easy it is for a sinner to see and confess true doctrine; fundamentals such as, “you must live right to be saved in the end”, or “if you live an evil life, you will not meet Jesus in peace”, or “you are not saved yet; salvation is at the end of your walk in Christ, not the beginning”. You have told us on many occasions that sinners often can discern the Truth from the many false doctrines that exist in the world, and that it is only religious people that cannot see how simple and sensible and satisfying to the soul the real gospel of Christ is.
What Jesus showed me today helped me to better understand why people attach themselves to false religion, and why there are so many varieties.
For a man to feel conviction from God for his sin when he does not want to repent of it can cause him to seek relief in false religion to soothe his soul. False religion can be a compromise between a life full of sin and submission to Christ. And the version of false religion that a man chooses or invents for himself is the product of the sin(s) he is choosing to hold on to.
Jerry
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Hi Jerry.
It was an education for me to watch this happen to some brothers and sisters along the way. To see them refuse the conviction of God, and then become MORE religious was surprising. But Jesus helped me understand they were trying to negotiate with him. They were, in essence, saying to the Lord, “In stead of doing what you are telling me to do, I’ll sing more songs, pray more, and work more on doing other religious works. Ok?”
It’s not ok. It’s rebellion, even though those looking on usually don’t see it that way. As Preacher Clark taught me, if you’re not doing what God wants you to do, whatever you are doing is wrong.
Pastor John