Letters to Christ's Beloved Church

I will confess I have been all over the Spectrum within Christianity starting with Missouri Synod Lutheran, three of my best girlfriends including my longest childhood friend whose mother was my mother’s best friend, are Roman Catholic. Among close relations in my extended family is a Baptist missionary and minister and Episcopalian priest who has identified as homosexual for many many years.

Being a good Lutheran, I went from the Lutheran High School to Oral Roberts University. I was in the Word of Faith circles, as they call it, for 10 years, now I’m back in the Lutheran Church.

One thing I have become strongly convinced of over the years, is we were truly saved by grace alone, through faith not by works so no one can boast, and that even though sound Doctrine is very important, no one’s getting to heaven by the blood plus their theology. Jesus Christ is Enough and the blood is enough. And I believe there are going to be a lot of pastors and Priests when we Face Christ, that are going to be shocked just how saved by grace alone they were.

Today I turned on am 91 the local Christian Channel and Rev. Chuck Swindoll was on.

Today he was preaching on the scripture where it says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And he points back through Romans in various places and his point was that we don’t have to sin. God gives us the power to not sin.

Then he said you don’t have to sin, you can go for days without sinning… and the Lord and Heaven had to listen to my conversation for the next 45 minutes afterwards. Go for days without sinning? Go for 24 hours without sinning?

I doubt strongly that Reverend Swindoll will read this blog since my current reader list is zero, unless you’re counting the cloud of witnesses….

But I would strongly challenge his conclusions to scripture. I would ask him to make public his bank accounts. All of them. Including Investments.

I find it revolting to hear someone teach that we can get through without sinning, it is harmful to the lambs and sheep. Because many will be like the tax collector on his knees crying out to God, be merciful, to me, a sinner! But you would perhaps encourage them to be more like the Pharisee, who was righteous, “without sin” (just ask him…)

Would you honor me, please by hearing this through? For Christ’s sake, I beseech you, please hear me out. I’m not a great writer or speaker, but Christ cares for the little lambs and sheep and does not want them harmed.

So I am supposed to be going to bed in 7 minutes and tomorrow is my daughter’s first day back to school. So this will be rough, not polished, and I’m sorry.  But I’m asking please bear with me.

1st John states that if we say we have no sin we lie and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So let’s Define sin. And let’s define it as God defines it.

Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is this love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your mind and with all your strength. And the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.

I have become a little bit frustrated recently with this concept that we’ve had in America of posting the Ten Commandments. For the longest time I agreed with everybody that yes they should be posted in the schools because that’s how we thought and that’s what we’ve done for years, centuries.

But that’s not sufficient scripture. That’s like telling people they need to bake bread and handing them flour. You’re going to need a little bit more than that to get the bread working correctly.

There were many more Commandments than the Ten Commandments in Scripture.

The words omission and commission are not in the Bible, but they are used to describe sins that we do against others or God – that is sins of commission. Then sins that we do by not fulfilling our obligations, basically things that we don’t do and by not doing them, we have sinned. That is sins of omission.

So, Reverend Swindle and any other readers, are we sinning right now? From my perception our sin is continual, and his blood washes us clean continually. It removes the original sin, We Are Made white as snow. So why do we still act contrary to the Holiness we have received?

Why does an apple seed not look like an apple tree and why is it not bearing apples? And if you make a general statement to a large group of people, you can bear apples. You can continually bear apples. There is an inherent guilt upon the seeds and the seedlings for not bearing apples, that doesn’t mean that they’re not called to Bear apples that doesn’t mean they won’t in the future bear apples, but to make generalized statements contrary to scripture is dangerous. And perhaps my example is wrong or not the best. God knows.

We are most certainly called to encourage people not to sin. We are most certainly called to teach people the truth of the word of God in it’s fullness. And part of that is Judge not and you will not be judged. And yet we know that the tree that did not bear fruit was in danger of being cut down. Wisdom is proved right by her children.

Jesus Christ is really concerned about oppression in the world. The heavenly father is very concerned with the poor and the oppressed.

I would urge Pastor Swindoll to Simply obey Christ’s words to sell everything he has, give to the poor and take up his cross and follow Jesus Christ. That means entering into the suffering of this world. It is a very dangerous place to be very great at theology, but not quite as great at Agape Love and I am not judging Pastor Swindoll, but I do judge myself.

I am a person that is sinful by nature in the flesh, but made righteous and holy by the grace of God and the power of God given to me through being born again and in my baptism because the word of God says that baptism saves us.

God in his Mercy has made me his child and God Before the Throne of God has given me Christ’s righteousness so that I am viewed through the lens of the sinless son of God.

So what does it matter how I live my life? Because faith without works is dead and Faith Works by love, (and the works the father has desired is to believe on the one whom he has sent.)

An infant’s only work needed is to eat, drink, poop, pee – to be filled, to be loved. And there are people with mental disabilities that still remain in that kind of desperate need just to be loved, but they love and their love is precious and we know in these people we see a taste of Heaven as we do in infants and little children.

The Beloved are loved.

That nuturing love is very different than the love of a commanding officer training his soldiers, Desiring that they not die in battle. What we do, It matters. Because God knows what my physical brain and body can and cannot do. And he alone sees the talents that he’s given me to use for his glory. And the parable of the talents, the one with the one Talent was thrown in with the unbelievers where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth, not because of the sins he committed or the wrongs that he had done such as murdering somebody or committing an adulterous relationship, his sin was having a talent and not using it in the kingdom of God.

So yes, yes we strongly are urged and encouraged to strive to not sin. But to State that you do not sin, or can go for days without sinning, I’m sorry I don’t think that’s Biblical, true or real. God judges the heart and it says that the motives of each person’s heart will be open on the day of judgment.

And another reason that I would strongly strongly rebuke those few words, though God have mercy on me because it certainly not my job to rebuke a pastor, but perhaps if God could use a donkey to rebuke a prophet, then maybe… but I would strongly rebuke Pastor Swindoll, because you have in your care people that deeply love God and when you tell them that they can get through 3 days without sinning and they fall short every 30 minutes or every 10 minutes, the only difference between you and them is that they see it and you don’t, you are going to cause them to feel like they have failed God.

Because all of a sudden it’s not on the blood of Jesus Christ or his sacrifice for us but once again you have placed the responsibility for living this sinless life upon people who aside from the grace of God are incapable of living sinless life.

So yes, God gives us power over sin. We have power over the devil. I believe I can find Bible quotes to those two statements, but the moment that I or anybody else adds to the word of God or takes away from it, thinking that we can make it better, we will seriously get in trouble.

When we err even in the slightest fashion, we will hurt the Sheep. Because you can have your nose up in the air and please forgive my wording here, quite convinced that you haven’t sinned, though I still am really curious how you’re defining that, maybe you haven’t cursed today, maybe you haven’t committed adultery today or murdered today, like the Rich Young Ruler whom Jesus loved, because he loves you Pastor Swindoll, and your error in Doctrine is proof of his love and grace that he saves even you.

So I speak like that and it comes across rude so please forgive me but I’m trying to make a point, you are loved of God. And he has forgiven all of your sins, but to say that today you have no sin and you are not sinning, urging others to focus on not sinning rather than on Christ and His blood that cleanes us?

Perhaps those in persecuted countries maybe those who are constantly being tortured for the faith might be able to say something like that, but certainly not us in this Western world. But even there I don’t think anybody can go 2 hours let alone 24 without sinning, and if they could they wouldn’t mention it because they would be exalting the cross of Jesus Christ and not wanting to hurt the little ones.

Because sinning against God is Not Just comprised with not obeying the Ten Commandments which if we are honest we fail the first. Obeying Gods commands is also loving our neighbor as ourselves.

When I look at the Western World churches, I pray to God we’re saved by grace alone because there’s no other way we’re getting there. Or at least I’m not. We are called To Love. To get into the suffering of the homeless. Okay so Pastor Swindoll, Isaiah 58 is God’s heart. Do you live to bring the homeless poor into your home or do you have a thousand excuses as to why you can’t?

Do you have tons of books in your home and many things that take money to care for when your brothers and sisters around the world do not have enough to eat? Is this a sin to have plenty While others have none? Wealth is not a sin but greed is. And the Bible says that pride is an Abomination before God and so is lies.

So we can sit there and point fingers at people that are in active sexual immorality or living a lifestyle of homosexuality, which that word is not in the Bible and part of that definition is not a sin and part of it is, but at the moment that you stand there and point fingers and tell people that they can go by without sinning in their life or in their days, are you not yourself lying and speaking Abomination Before the Throne of God?

Are you not straying from the cross of Jesus Christ, the hope for sinners, even the worst of sinners, like Saul/Paul? Do you assume that now that we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works so that no one can boast, that now we must continue the life in Christ by works not by grace? Does that not trample on the blood?

So yes God desires that we do not sin. 1st John speaks of that. He speaks to us so that we do not sin, and then immediately has to say but if we do sin…

Jesus Christ said to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air and that we are to trust in God for our provision and to follow him, not stressing and striving like the Gentiles do over our daily bread, what we are going to wear, and to do so would that not be a sin?

But how many in our churches are taught to lay aside wealth for themselves instead of being generous to the poor? In our 401K do we trust? I would challenge you if you have a 401K or retirement fund to empty it and give to the poor in accordance with the word of Jesus Christ and then follow him. Being homeless it won’t kill you. Or if it does you’ll go home to be with Jesus.

It’s strange because I say these things but you would never do that and I am striving to learn how I am to live for Jesus. I do not have a 401k. I have never worked a regular job enough to get more than $50 a month from Social Security. But God has always taken care of me and I just asked that he might be worshiped and glorified.  God has never permitted me to be on the streets he’s always put his protection over me.

But I believe right now there are more than 10,000 homeless in the greater Denver area where I live. And of course all the Christian churches, have sacrificed electronics and their Sports, the video games and the many things we do that are not needed for life and put them aside until we could find a solution to care for the poor in obedience to the commands of God. Okay I don’t think sarcasm is a fruit of the spirit so please forgive me.

The need in our generation for living for Jesus is dire. Our kids are shooting each other in schools and committing suicide, while we comfortably sit back and drink our Starbucks, and watch our TV, and take our nice little cruises, and quote the poor you will always have with you.

You know what is amazing, God loves the rich and wealthy people just like he loved the Rich Young Ruler. And he’s Desiring them to come to know him and patient relationship is more important to him that instant perfection. But he also desires for the poor and those suffering all across the world to have freedom and be free. So it would do well for us to learn to live simply and fight the darkness that’s taken over through materialism greed Pride self-centeredness, the idols of comfort, fun, entertainment. Yes God desires us to enjoy our lives. He also desires for the homeless to enjoy their lives, but in this life there are people who will never have enough to eat their entire lives let alone drink a Starbucks, and their cries have been reaching God’s ears for a long time. May we open ours.

I don’t understand many things. I know there are many people gifted at business and I’m not saying they are sinning by having a 401k that is between them and God.

But if you are convinced that you do not sin, have you given up your life for Jesus Christ? Not just preaching for him from the comfort of your home, have you gotten into the suffering of the homeless, of our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world? Have you urged your parishioners to not be greedy because the Bible speaks much against the sin of greed? Have you urged the people under your care not to fall into the idolatry of this world and waste time and energy and resources in video games and so many things not necessary for life when people around us are starving for salvation and physical needs?

The New Testament calls Christians to work to care for the poor.

Do you preach that or are you concerned that it would affect your income if you spoke against greed? Greed is a damnable sin just as bad as sexual immorality. So is pride, thinking that we are better than other people are, thinking that we don’t need God.

Pastor, You prayed a beautiful prayer at the end and I do not have a right to judge you only God will judge you and I trust that in his grace and his Mercy, your sins will be forgiven as you believe in the name of Jesus, — but you know the scripture.

Be careful how you build, whether you use hay or straw or gold or silver, because that day will most certainly determine whether what you have built remains.

In that moment it’s not going to matter what anybody ever thought of you, and honestly what we think of ourselves isn’t going to matter either in that day, the only thing that’s going to matter is what Jesus Christ says. God desires people to be saved, pastor. Don’t blockade the road to their salvation by putting on them expectations that are impossible to fulfill, by putting on laws, but not being willing to lift a finger.

I’ve shared this story before but I will share it again. It’s the story of two little girls. It is a true story.

The first little girl was born to two parents that were older. They were Godly Parents though certainly not perfect. And even though she lived in the Inner City of New York where things externally could be very difficult, she was raised with much love and affection from her parents Friends, School and church. If she got an F, people were eager to help, if she got an A she was praised. She had opportunity for music, and education and even though life was never perfect because it never will be here, she had three meals a day and love abounded in her home.

In spite of all this she was often tormented by demons, she suffered greatly from depression, which drew her closer to Jesus Christ and taught her to pray, and hours within a day she would read her Bible and pray. In the evening and the night time when demons would try to come and attack her even at a young age, she would fight and she would cry to God and ask for deliverance. And he promised that she would be delivered and that one day those demons would never attack her again. And he brought it to pass when she was 19 years of age. She grew and she learned to pray and to fight, to worship God from whom All Good Things Come. Her life was never perfect there were many hardships and trials, she’s still battled mental instability, but she was never homeless because she had knowledge that she was loved of God and in God all is provided. Because of the power of God and godly upbringing, she was protected from evil men that would have tried to hurt her even when she was in unsafe circumstances there was always protection because she knew many people were praying for her by name. And because she too would pray and ask God to help and deliver and he always did. Psalm 91 was not a cute psalm but a reality for every day of life.

She grew up and became friends with a lady whose background was greatly different.

This was the other little girl. This little girl was raised in a very white southern town. Her mother at the age 16 fell in love with a 19 year old young black man, and she became pregnant. The black man was accused of rape and sent to jail. And the 16 year old mother was forced to marry a man twice her age that was not at all a kind man. And in this white community, this other little girl was born. Her skin was beautiful, the color of coffee with a little bit of cream. This other little girl’s mother had a horrible life being married to this man she was forced to marry. And very early on the mother pretty much went crazy. Reports from a grandmother stated that as an infant she was found with an iron mark on her back. An iron like you would iron clothes. If you’ve never been in this level of Darkness, please know that it exists. Because many people would not comprehend why was this not reported. But all over our country there are many dark things like this that are kept hidden and not reported. So if you want to love like Jesus loves and not sin, go seek them and find them. Don’t stay in your comfortable house, get to the streets and Love Like Jesus loves. Yes, you might die. But your life is hidden in Christ. They are dying, many of them have never known his love. So, it is good if we are a mother with children or a family with children still at home to put our children in a safe place as God calls us, but when we have power and ability and the children are self sustaining, for those who are called, who are mature Believers in Christ, does he not call us to enter into the suffering of this world? Does he not long for us to be his hands and feet and go to the demoniac, to the woman at the well who has had four husbands and is currently living in sin, and heal the sick, declare his love? And let us not add to scripture because only twice does he speak the words go and sin no more. There were Seasons when he commanded that, and there were those who were not ready to hear those words as of yet. He calls us to be perfect in love. Perfect in Mercy. But he doesn’t tell us to be sinless, because only God is good.

This other little girl grew up a Survivor and a fighter. When she was three her stepfather decided that she could help him meet his needs. I will not go into the gross and disgusting details of this true story…

…are you sure you don’t have any sin, beloved brother in the Lord? Have you gone into the Dark Places Like Jesus Does and drawn them out? Not just preaching, but going day by day into the darkness and seeking lost souls and staying in their mix, until they are convinced they can trust you enough so that you can drag them out of the misery and pain and lies that they’ve endured?

This other little girl served her stepfather’s needs, was locked in closets for days at a time, spent her entire childhood wearing long sleeves to school, got straight Fs, she was taught this was normal. Isn’t that what everybody’s stepfather does to them? She was beaten. She was made to clean house like you would spring clean, every night after school and was often up till 2:00 in the morning cleaning for her mother who was completely crazy. At age 15 her mother took a gun to her head and said she was going to do what she should have done a long time ago and this other little girl hit the streets. It was safer there as a drug dealer and a prostitute.

Do you dare condemn that woman? She looked for Jesus in the churches because in the midst of all of this hell, an aunt took her to church once when she was about five and she gave her heart to Jesus, but then she went back to all of the stuff. But no one wanted someone in church who looked like her….

In her late 20s God sent a woman to her who spoke to her about the love of Jesus for many months, and then this other little girl came fully to Jesus Christ and was set free of many years of drug addiction, but later in her life she still had much heartbreak and it just seemed like she wasn’t able to break through the darkness.

I don’t know where the story will end, but I am asking Jesus Christ to forgive her sins, and my equally damnable sins  – cowardice is also listed as a damnable sin in the Bible BTW – because we can sit there and judge somebody for going back into prostitution or into adultery, but the Bible doesn’t differentiate between that and greed and pride.

We do in our Western world. We love to think that we are pretty darn good and those other people, you know, they just need to be more like us. We’re happy to give them so many scriptures so lovingly so they can stop sinning. But Jesus died for them. He took their torture and the pain and the hatred from all the abuse. He did not get a shot in the head and boom it’s over, God loved us so much he wanted us to know that there was nothing we could go through that he had not gone through.

And he died for us, because the truth is Pastor, you are still sinning.

Thank God you are saved by grace alone, through faith, not by works so no one can boast. And so we are commanded to be patient and to be kind, not to Envy or to boast or to be proud or rude, not to be self-seeking.

We could stop right there and look at our bank accounts and everything in our homes and the fancy cars we’re driving and just stop for a moment.

Are we serving Jesus or ourselves? Are we giving him the leftovers, or does he get all of us? We are called to live simple lives and to follow him. And yes some are called to be business people like Daniel who served King Nebuchadnezzar and some are called to be beauty queens like Queen Esther. And so no it is never my job to judge and maybe you are called to sit in a nice house now, or maybe because I don’t know you, you have surrendered All to Jesus Christ, but please don’t lie.

Please don’t tell people they can stop sinning, because what happens is you are speaking as a pastor for Jesus, and when they find that they can’t stop sinning, it’s not you, they’re not going to believe, it’s Him.

Just like happened horribly with the word of faith movement when truth got so evilly twisted from God’s original intent of encouraging us to believe in love for the things he has promised to bring his life to the world, but we Twisted it into greed and self-centeredness and then we’re completely confounded when God’s word came to pass and we had reaped what we had sown and death took place in so many lives, because the wealth wasn’t meant to build us up higher and higher like the Tower of Babel, but the grace of God was given us in this generation for us to reach more and more outwards – the kingdom of heaven – but to do that we have to die to ourselves.

We have to say no to the many Idols of this world. Stop buying clothes every year or on every whim, or if we must go therapy shopping take some homeless people with us and let them Buy.

And we struggle why we are so weak and disconnected and the families are so broken, but nobody thinks of actually spending time and energy on their knees in the church cuz we forgotten the power of God to deliver and to heal even this generation.

We’ve lost sight of his love. We were taught by the Word that godliness with contentment is great gain, but we worship another Idol that is never content but has to have more and more, because the first lust in the Bible was not for sex but for knowledge and our lust is so full for knowledge in this country, we are self-destructing.

We would do well to follow the anaptists, the Amish, the Mennonites, and learn to live simply for God and family and to care for the poor see Christian Aid Ministries and you’ll see what I mean, but it is really difficult to change brain patterns and habits after so many years and when we’re in a culture, and so we find we cannot even give up our Starbucks to take care of the poor.

I’m sorry, I don’t believe we can go an hour without sinning let alone 3 days. Maybe in a persecuted country, God knows, but I don’t think that’s possible even there, and so we are stuck with this horrible wickedness and if we face the truth of the person in the mirror, we are destitute, shamed at the truth of our deaf ears, blind eyes and calloused hearts.

Where can we turn?

Blessed are the poor in spirit because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. To him who orders his way aright, I will show the salvation of God.

The prostitutes and the tax collectors are getting in before you, Jesus words to the Pharisees, because John the Baptist showed you the way to life, (my quote here isn’t perfect, it is an hour past my bedtime and I know I do not have time to edit this), but you weren’t willing.

What was the way to life? Jesus. The Author AND finisher of our faith.

JESUS. The Lord saves. — greedy, lying, prideful, cowardly, immoral, rebellious people.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but rather that we might have life through him. It is written, “I am the Lord; apart from me there is no Savior.”

So no, I do not find myself sinless in this moment in time. But I am righteous, santified, justified, redeemed. I long for it I desire it I cry for it and there will be a day when I see him face to face, and through these hours yes yes I long and I strive to the best of my ability to make the right choices and not to sin and even as I write I feel that I have sinned against God because I have a child that needs to go to school tomorrow morning and now I’m praying to God that I haven’t sinned against him by staying up 2 hours past my bedtime writing, and praying to God that I wake up on time.

I feel that if I do not write I am sinning and if I write, yes I still am sinning because in this broken world I am never going to be perfect.

With Paul, I cry, Woe is me! Things that I do not want to do I do and the things I want to do, I do not do who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord. It always points and comes back to him, not us. If Paul could cry that he was still sinning in his Epistles, I think I can honestly say that I do sin

And even Peter needed to be rebuked by Paul in the book of Acts. Because we never grow out completely of this sinful nature of this side of Eternity.

One man who held that belief system – that you eventually stop sinning – was Ravi Zacharias. A man that I deeply honored and with many was heartbroken over the things that came out after his death.

I was nauseated and couldn’t understand how this sin could be, but when I researched him, his belief system was that you eventually grow to where you do not sin.  Nowhere does the scripture teach that. Certainly we hope and pray there is growth, pray that we grow by God’s spirit in his word into maturity but what counts is faith expressing itself in love. 

Humanity has an amazing ability to Blind itself to the evil destroying it when it does not acknowledge the truth of its evil state.

Jesus Christ said why do you call me good there is no one good but God Alone.

“You can go days without sinning.” Just a few tiny words, pastor. Just a little bit off of the belief system from the truth of the word of God. I hate what happened to Ravi Zacharias. I am appalled that nobody through his lifetime convicted and confronted that deeply destructive sin.

But when we believe that we have to be part of our own salvation instead of him being the author as well as the finisher of our faith, then we will lie most horribly because then we are the ones who have to keep us out of hell, and we lie and pretend to be good, instead of admitting and confessing that we are sinners. And that’s really scary, because lying is an Abomination to God.

I am not perfect. But I worship the one who is. And I adore at the feet of the Lord of Glory who has become my righteousness so even if these words that I’ve spoken are wrong, God please forgive me, and he saves me and pastor, he saves you.  I pray to God that you still have faith and I pray that you will not be ashamed when you stand before him.

We are his representative on this Earth to bring Comfort to those who mourn and to those who mourn in Zion giving them a Garland of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Why? Because our sins are forgiven. All of them. Your bank account, your lack of trust in God and your lack of love for God, your greed and your pride and your lies, beloved for whom Christ died, your sins are forgiven. Mine too.

And that is what you can tell to those who are hungry and thirsting after righteousness but just like you haven’t been able to give up your pride, they’re still battling the sexual immorality from years of sexual abuse, while we sit and judge broken brains and broken bodies, walking straight past the man half dead on the road because we don’t want to get too dirty ourselves, we certainly don’t want those bad men hurting us…

Jesus Christ commands us to stop. To love. To give up ourselves, our own money, our own time and resources and take up that wounded man and be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

I think the Judgment day is going to be very interesting, because I have met people that have become atheist because they do not believe in the God many have presented, but I’m pretty sure God doesn’t believe in that God either…

Where we have fallen short we need to tell God we’re sorry and ask the world to forgive us. Applaud the non-believers for living more like Jesus than we do. Then let us speak the truth about ourselves instead of constantly trying to defend ourselves, let us lift up the Cross of Christ, boasting in his righteousness, not our self-righteousness. Do you want to draw them to Jesus Christ? Speak the truth. In love.

Now does that mean that we go around teaching everybody that sexual immorality Pride murder and greed is okay? No of course not! We’ve been set free from sin we don’t walk in it any longer. God has raised the dead man to life and giving him health, why would we choose sickness and death again ? That’s foolishness. Those are not the lifestyles that we are supposed to have, but a large reason we’ve got problems right now with lgbtq, abortion and all sorts of craziness isn’t because of “them,” it’s because of us.

We have focused on their bad Works instead of equally focusing on our bad works, and then we’ve lifted ourselves up instead of lifting up the Cross of Christ. So yes Sin is Sin.

Passing thoughts are not a sin, otherwise how could the Apostle Paul say to cast down every imagination and every High thing that tries to exalt itself above the knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Continually allowing evil thoughts and dwelling on them when we know that they are evil and that God tells us not to, that becomes a sin when we focus on those evil thoughts of hatred or adultery or Pride or greed or cowardice. Because what we focus and think on eventually becomes action. We’re too afraid to get into the suffering of the world around us because we might get hurt. Cowardice is when we do not choose what is right even when it causes us hurt or pain or death. Pastor, do you sin?

I can guarantee you I spent years of my life where I couldn’t even focus on every thought, let alone cast them down. I lost battle after battle. I was not yet grown nor mature enough, that took years. But I was beloved, I was saved. I was righteous. And yes I didn’t go around having sex with everybody like my sexual drive and my brain and body told me to because I didn’t believe that was in line with the word of God of what to do with my body.

And so yes there are certainly disconnects even within the body of Christ of how we are to live our lives. But I’m really really strongly questioning why so many churches don’t understand that the problem starts with them, not the homosexual?

So if we are not supposed to do the acts of sexual immorality and we’re making a really big deal out of this or not doing the acts of homosexuality, do you not do the acts of Pride and lies, greed and cowardice, somehow making the word of God into what it does not say, that your sin is so much better than their sin, so we’ve got an Uber focus on them, and I guess maybe that makes us feel better about ourselves because we still haven’t quite got grasped what the grace of God is all about?

It is about relationship with the Living God thru the blood of Christ and the fear of the Lord is still the beginning of wisdom.

Joy in God’s presence for the Lord takes delight in his people, but he does not ignore sin. He works with each individual where they are at. For some people they are battling with sexual immorality, but they are very kind to the poor. Others battle greed but they don’t really struggle with sexual sins.

The word of God says that when Shiloh comes and I’m combining two verses here, Every Mountain will be lowered, every Valley be raised up, the rough places plain, the Crooked places straight.

God is the ultimate equal opportunity employer, because the cross of Jesus Christ forgives Sinners such as we. And so we would be horrified if people go around murdering other people and claiming to be Christian. But do we through our greed withhold the wealth God has given for the poor and commit second degree murder by not getting into the mix according to his commands with the suffering around us, and yet we confess that we are Christian, followers of Jesus Christ, a man who knew what it was like to not have a place to lay his head. Is there room for this Jesus in our homes? For as we have done to the least of these so we have done to him. And by all means we can’t be foolish, we’re not to give our pearls to swine. So no we don’t invite somebody into our home when we have little children that could potentially harm them.

Certainly we would choose to use wisdom, but do we even bother to figure out how we could work this out so that some people might not freeze to death on the streets of our cities? Or is that the almighty government’s problem not ours?

The day of judgment is going to be interesting. I pray to God we are not ashamed when we see Jesus but I fear for this generation of Western Christians. We have so many idols. And yes I speak to the person in the mirror. God help us.

Fools despise knowledge and understanding. And there are people who having full understanding of the knowledge of God have chosen not to count the knowledge of God worth retaining in their pocketbooks, in their finances, in their homes, closing the door to the homeless, not even considering Isaiah 58 as a way of living, but the same people are very big about making sure that these other poor Sinners stop sinning.

We may not grasp the hypocrisy, but the world does. The word of God says pride is an abomination. The word of God also says it is an Abomination for a man to have relations with a man. The broken drive is not a sin, not surrendering to God is.

And he saves and delivers people whose hearts are set on him. So we can’t just walk in our pride and our greed and our lies actively engaging with it in every step, and then blame lgbtq, and the “left”🙄 for all the problems in our homes and country.

Both the left and the right in America have strengths and weaknesses things they do well and things they do not do well at all. But when we do not acknowledge the truth of Our Own damnable sin, then instead of exalting the cross of Jesus Christ and coming into Unity which would be a really good thing right about now, we let the spirits of Darkness divide us further and further from truth and Grace.

We don’t want to face and admit our cowardice and greed and pride so we busy ourselves with pointing fingers at everybody else’s sins. And likewise the left doesn’t want to deal with the struggles they have with immorality but they’re pretty darn good about taking care of the poor in the alien, and so instead of taking each strand of thread and acknowledging where the truth is we just jumble everything together and are like children saying he was mean to me!

But we don’t want to Define what that mean was because if we do it by the word of God then we have to figure out that we equally are being mean to them. And maybe the reason they’re being mean to us is because they’ve been hurt by us. And maybe on the day of judgment we’re going to find out what it truly means to be loved by the Living God and what it truly means to be saved by grace alone, not by works so that no one can boast.

Definitely there is a judgment. The word of God is clear about that. Thank God that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So maybe that’s what we should be preaching at the start and finish of every conversation about our damnable sins.

We need to come to an understanding of what they have need of. Truth and Grace and love. And until we’re ready to repent of our greed, yes we can stand and state that Sin is Sin and that these things are wrong, I am by no means stating that we should engage in licentiousness just saying that it doesn’t matter how we live our lives, but the truth is many of us that are pointing fingers at others sins, are completely blind to the four pointing back at the person in the mirror.

So now that we’ve heard the truth, we can get up in the pulpit and confess our pride that is an Abomination before the Living God and ask forgiveness. And confess that we too are saved by grace alone. And now we can take a look at our bank accounts and our frivolous living in a generation that starving for the basic necessities of life. We can confess the waste of the Western World wasting trillions of dollars on things not necessary for life rejoicing in the great things we’ve done with automated cars, because hey we’re so smart just ask us.

Don’t be too discouraged reader, we are beloved of God. Correction is not meant to put us in a place where we don’t feel like we can move, but it’s given to us to be encouraged to grow more into the knowledge of Jesus love for us. And change happens over years not days. So when we acknowledge the sin then every moment of every day we continue to acknowledge it and we ask the spirit of God to work in us the change. And we mourn our sin and we cry for our cowardice and our greed confessing our sins to one another, confessing that we have not counted the knowledge of God worth retaining, we have not lifted High the cross of Jesus Christ but we’ve centered on laws and on works in an unhealthy manner, using once again the law in a deceptive way to somehow try to justify ourselves through anything other than the blood. And so we have sinned. But we are forgiven and so we can learn to grow, not ignoring the word spoken, because the wages of sin is still death, but in the fear and love of the Lord little by little working to get our time energy resources and money transitioned into the things of the kingdom of God rather than our own lives, all the while rejoicing in our salvation. For surely our lord loves us and we are redeemed and we are saved.

So we can give to the poor because Jesus didn’t lie to us when he said not to worry about tomorrow did he takes care of the Lilies of the Field and the birds of the air. That when the government crashes in the 401K is gone it’s okay God’s got this. You know that right? Or would you be devastated thinking that there would be no provision because your trust is in the money in the bank not in God. Now is a good time to start practicing the trust.

We have so many things we are proud of, while 10,000 homeless live the streets of Denver and we have no idea what to do to stop it. There’s so many practical things we could be doing but maybe we just don’t want to get dirty. Because the problem is they don’t need a house, they’re not houseless. They’re homeless.

They need continual loving engagement the rest of their lives until the many broken areas of their lives are healed and that beloved for whom Christ died, would mean us entering into their suffering. We’re happy to give of our wealth, but not of our comfort.

Even within homes I’ve heard so many times oh well that girl had no excuse she gets everything She Wants why is she acting so bad? Because that teenage girl is being handed stuff, but money can’t buy love. We need to hit the churches on our knees and confess our idolatry to God and tell God that we’ve delighted in so many things other than him. We haven’t sought his ways we just wanted what we thought we needed. We’ve traded Electronics and big screen TVs and fancy cars for the wealth of Heaven, for joy, peace patience love gentleness faithfulness self control goodness. Because where your heart is there your treasure will be.

I really think the spirit of God desires that we repent of our idolatry. Yes “Jesus loves me” and he desires for us to worship God not so many other things.

So, God in his Mercy has left us with our damnable sins, because instead of just telling them to repent, he gives us the grace to set the example and lead by example. To be the first to state from the pulpit,

“I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto Thee all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended Thee and justly deserve that temporal and eternal punishment. And I am heartily sorry for them, most high God. And I sincerely repent of them and I pray Thee of Thy boundless Mercy and for the sake of the holy innocent bitter sufferings and death of Thy beloved Son, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.”

So Pastor Swindoll, you have a great opportunity. You can confess your sin to people and tell them you were wrong and show them how to repent by repenting. All of heaven would rejoice, beloved for whom Christ died! Because their trust needs to be in God, not you, and ask them to forgive you, because the Bible says all have sinned, and nowhere in the Bible does it say, “you can go 3 days without sinning,” you made that up. That is not scripture. That was your conclusion to scripture, but there are too many other scriptures that confront that.

So I Pray by some miracle that the Lord protect you and that you might truly repent, because when you see him face to face, and when I see him face to face, what we thought isn’t going to matter when we Face truth incarnate. The only thing that’s going to matter is what he thought and what he says. So I pray for grace that he might give us wisdom humility truth. Pray for me as well.

Abba, Lord God if I have sinned against you by speaking this way, if anything here was rude or incorrect, please forgive me. Have mercy on me as well, Abba Father. In Jesus name amen.