It seems like the world is employing the bogeyman of, “mental health issues” to all the mass shootings. We know where this leads. It leads to a removal of responsibility for the crime from the shooter, and places it on society, their families, or some other external source. Modern psychology is an offshoot of Puritan Christians practice of, “soul care.” Which in Greek the word soul is, “ψυχή” or transliterated as , “psuchē” or psyche for those of you who don’t know what an upsilon is. They practiced Biblical counseling, also known as nouthetic counseling. The practice involved listening to the problems, determining which sin, or sins, the person was in, and assigning them study from the Bible so they can read for themselves the word of God that would correct them. They would then be faced with a choice, admit their sin, repent, and try to do what they ought, or deny their sins, and refuse to repent, while making their troubles worse.
That is a very, “nut-shelled” explanation. This process usually never went longer than 12 weeks. If it had, the person wasn’t being genuine. Later men like Freud, and Jung came along, and secularized the practice. They removed every effective aspect of the practice, including the acknowledgment of personal sin, and guilt, repentance, and making amends. They shifted the blame to something external from the person. They believed the problem wasn’t sin, because they didn’t believe in such a thing. They thought the problem was the shame, and guilt a person felt. They sought to remove the impact of shame, and guilt. By the way, when the Holy Spirit convicts you of some sin, you should feel godly sorrow over it. This is why we have so many people who go to therapy for years, and always come up with some new disorder to continue going for.
The real problem is our sin. We raise children without the fear of God. We raise them in ignorance of His word. We raise them understanding a set of laws, but no idea of what grace is. We raise them to hate what is called good, and to have super egos. We raise them without teaching that each human life has value, and dignity, being made in the image of God. We raise them thinking that they have all the power in the world, and that the world is theirs. We raise them thinking they are the pinnacle of some intellect-free evolutionary force. Of course they see themselves as superior. Of course they see all of creation as being for them. The creation is for God’s glory. Their lives are not for them, but for God’s glory. You are not your own, but you belong to God, as His creature. He created you for His purpose! It isn’t our right to murder other people. They are God’s, just like you are God’s.
So here we are. The bogeyman of psychological problems. Seems legitimate. Until you look a bit deeper. Who will they blame? Society. Who needs to change? Society. Who is society? Collectively, we are. So it isn’t the shooter’s sin. It is ours. That kind of thinking leads to sweeping gun legislation, and a complete destruction of the country, and the left knows it. Granted, there are a lot of useful idiots out there who emote their way through these issues, rather than employing critical thinking. They are the ones who will be manipulated because of their insatiable need to be virtuous, not realizing they are doing the devil’s work.
What is the answer? Go back! Repent! We need to go back to God. We need to go back to revering Him, His Word, and Christ. We need to teach our children the gospel, and the entire Bible. We need to pray for our nation, and leaders. Pray that God will convert the slaves of satan in our government. Pray that if they are not to be converted, that God will remove them from power. Before any of this, get down on your knees, confess your sins, and ask God to forgive you. Be as good a parent as you know how to be. We’ll never be completely right here, and now. That will have to wait for glory, but we can take care of the mess in front of us, if God wills it.
1. The Global Flood, Was God Executing His Just, and Righteous Judgment, Against Sinful Mankind.
2. The Rainbow is the Symbol of His Covenant, to Never Again Destroy the Planet With a Flood.
3. To Use the Rainbow, as a Symbol of Pride, in Regards to Your Perverse Sins, is Blasphemous.
GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.
Proverbs 16:5 5 Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to Yahweh; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.
1. In Genesis, we read that God flooded the world because of how sinfully degenerate mankind had become. God is our Creator. He is the Law Giver, and Judge. He owns us. He has every right to do whatever He pleases with His creation. By breaking His laws, we deserve instant death, and eternal torment in Hell. God chose Noah, and his family. Noah found favor in His sight due to his faith. God provided a way for them to be saved from His just judgment. They must enter into that way of salvation. It was a wooden vessel, covered with pitch. The Hebrew word for pitch is also used to mean atonement. There was only one door, or way into the ark/salvation. Later in the Bible we read about a wooden cross, where Jesus atoned for our sins, and provides the only way of salvation. Jesus is the one, and only way. We must turn from our sins, and forsake them. We must trust in Jesus, the way Noah trusted God, and built an ark. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
2. The rainbow is a symbol/sign of God’s covenant to never destroy the planet with a flood ever again. This covenant is one sided. It doesn’t depend on fallen mankind. It is from God. There is no way we can satisfy the righteous requirements of God’s laws. This is why God must provide for us. like the rainbow reminds us of God’s mercy, His new covenant in Jesus, provides our only hope for salvation.
Genesis 6:1 – 8:22 1 Now it happened, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were good in appearance; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever because he indeed is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 5 Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And Yahweh regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 And Yahweh said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I regret that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh. The Generations of Noah 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among those in his generations; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and you shall cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 Now this is how you shall make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and complete it to one cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 As for Me, behold I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall breathe its last. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did. Noah and the Flood 1 Then Yahweh said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean, two, a male and his female; 3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep their seed alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that Yahweh had commanded him. 6 Now Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 7 Then Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him entered the ark because of the water of the flood. 8 Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, 9 by twos they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 Now it happened after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the fountains of the great deep split open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. 12 Then the rain came upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. 13 On this very day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, 14 they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind—every fowl, every winged creature. 15 So they came to Noah into the ark, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and Yahweh closed it behind him. 17 Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water multiplied and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. 18 And the water prevailed and multiplied greatly upon the earth, and the ark went on the surface of the water. 19 And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains under all the heavens were covered. 20 The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. 21 And all flesh that moved on the earth breathed its last, that is birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, as well as all mankind. 22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life—of all that was on the dry land—died. 23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah remained, and those that were with him in the ark. 24 And the water prevailed upon the earth 150 days. The Water Dries Up 1 Then God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided. 2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained; 3 and the water receded from the earth, going forth and returning, and at the end of 150 days the water decreased. 4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 Now the water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. 6 Then it happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made; 7 and he sent out a raven, and it went out flying back and forth until the water was dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; 9 but the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot, so it returned to him into the ark, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he stretched out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark to himself. 10 Then he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. 11 And the dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in its beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. 12 Then he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove; but it did not return to him again. 13 Now it happened in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. 15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may swarm on the earth, and that they may be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Yahweh’s Covenant with Noah 20 Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma; and Yahweh said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done. 22 While all the days of the earth remain, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”Luke 14:11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:12 And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
1 Peter 5:5-7 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 CASTING ALL YOUR ANXIETY ON HIM, because He cares for you.
James 4:1-10 1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” 7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Philippians 2:3-11 3 doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves, 4 not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
Romans 12:3 3 For through the grace given to me I say to each one among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound thinking, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
Isaiah 57:15 15 For thus says the One high and lifted up Who dwells forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the crushed and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the crushed.
Isaiah 66:2 2 For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares Yahweh. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
Proverbs 3:34 34 Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the humble.
Proverbs 11:2 2 When arrogance comes, then comes disgrace, But with the meek is wisdom.
Proverbs 18:12 12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before glory.
Proverbs 22:4 4 The reward of humility—the fear of Yahweh— Is riches, glory, and life.
Proverbs 29:23 23 A man’s lofty pride will bring him low, But a lowly spirit will take hold of glory.
Proverbs 21:4 4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart— The fallow ground of the wicked—are sin.
Psalms 25:9 9 May He lead the humble in justice, And may He teach the humble His way.
3. Pride in any human work is not a virtue. All human pride is sin. To be proud of sexual immorality is sin. To boast about wickedness, and then rob God of His covenant symbol, and pervert it for your own abominable deeds is blasphemy. God will not hold blameless the one who blasphemes Him.
Here are the 1828 Webster’s definitions of, “blasphemy” and “pride.”
“Blasphemy
BLAS’PHEMY, noun An indignity offered to God by words or writing; reproachful, contemptuous or irreverent words uttered impiously against Jehovah.
Blasphemy is an injury offered to God, by denying that which is due and belonging to him, or attributing to him that which is not agreeable to his nature.
In the middle ages, blasphemy was used to denote simply the blaming or condemning of a person or thing. Among the Greeks, to blaspheme was to use words of ill omen, which they were careful to avoid.
1. That which derogates from the prerogatives of God. Mark 2:1.”
“PRIDE, noun
1. Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one’s own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others.
Martial pride looks down on industry.
PRIDE goeth before destruction. Proverbs 16:18.
PRIDE that dines on vanity, sups on contempt.
All pride is abject and mean.
Those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Daniel 4:37.
2. Insolence; rude treatment of others; insolent exultation.
That hardly we escap’d the pride of France.
3. Generous elation of heart; a noble self-esteem springing from a consciousness of worth.
The honest pride of conscious virtue.
4. Elevation; loftiness.
A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place.
5. Decoration; ornament; beauty displayed.
Whose lofty trees, clad with summer’s pride
Be his this sword
Whose ivory sheath, inwrought with curious pride
Adds graceful terror to the wearer’s side.
6. Splendid show; ostentation.
Is this array, the war of either side
Through Athens pass’d with military pride
7. That of which men are proud; that which excites boasting.
I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. Zechariah 9:6. Zephaniah 3:11.
8. Excitement of the sexual appetite in a female beast.
9. Proud persons. Psalms 36:11.
PRIDE, verb transitive With the reciprocal pronoun, to pride one’s self, to indulge pride; to take pride; to value one’s self; to gratify self-esteem. They pride themselves in their wealth, dress or equipage. He prides himself in his achievements.”
I’d like you to also consider some synonyms to the word, “pride.”
1. “1. Pride, conceit, self-esteem, egotism, vanity, vainglory imply an unduly favorable idea of one’s own appearance, advantages, achievements, etc., and often apply to offensive characteristics. Pride is a lofty and often arrogant assumption of superiority in some respect: Pride must have a fall. Conceit implies an exaggerated estimate of one’s own abilities or attainments, together with pride: blinded by conceit. Self-esteem may imply an estimate of oneself that is higher than that held by others: a ridiculous self-esteem. Egotism implies an excessive preoccupation with oneself or with one’s own concerns, usually but not always accompanied by pride or conceit: His egotism blinded him to others’ difficulties. Vanity implies self-admiration and an excessive desire to be admired by others: His vanity was easily flattered. Vainglory, somewhat literary, implies an inordinate and therefore empty or unjustified pride: puffed up by vainglory.”
Leviticus 26:14-46 Reject His Statutes and He Will Strike You 14 ‘But if you do not obey Me and do not do all these commandments, 15 if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul loathes My judgments so as not to do all My commandments and so break My covenant, 16 I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. 17 And I will set My face against you so that you will be defeated before your enemies; and those who hate you will have dominion over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. 18 If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will discipline you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will also break down your pride of strength; I will also give your sky over to become like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 And your power will be spent uselessly, for your land will not give forth its produce and the trees of the land will not give forth their fruit. 21 ‘If then, you walk in hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. 22 And I will send out among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and cut down your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie desolate. 23 ‘And if by these things you do not accept My discipline, but walk in hostility against Me, 24 then I will walk in hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. 25 I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you so that you shall be given over into enemy hands. 26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread by rationed weight so that you will eat and not become full. 27 ‘Yet, if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but walk in hostility against Me, 28 then I will walk in wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will discipline you seven times for your sins. 29 Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. 30 I then will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and give your corpses to lie on the corpses of your idols, for My soul shall loathe you. 31 And I will give your cities over as a waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 32 And I will make the land desolate, so that your enemies who inhabit it will themselves feel desolate because of it. 33 You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34 ‘Then the land will make up for its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, and you will be in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and make up for its sabbaths. 35 All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it. 36 As for those of you who may remain, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf will pursue them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall. 37 They will therefore stumble over each other as if running from the sword, although no one is pursuing; and you will have no strength to stand up before your enemies. 38 But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies’ land will consume you. 39 So those of you who may remain will rot away in their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also in the iniquities of their fathers they will rot away with them. 40 ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also how they walked in hostility against Me— 41 I also was walking in hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make up for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be forsaken by them and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making up for their iniquity because they rejected My judgments and their soul loathed My statutes. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so loathe them as to bring an end to them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God. 45 But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.’” 46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws which Yahweh has given to be between Himself and the sons of Israel by the hand of Moses at Mount Sinai.
2 Chronicles 26:16-23 16 But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to Yahweh his God. And he entered the temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of Yahweh, men of valor. 18 And they stood against Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are set apart as holy to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from Yahweh God.” 19 But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of Yahweh, beside the altar of incense. 20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because Yahweh had smitten him. 21 So King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh. And Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land. 22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first to last, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, has written. 23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son became king in his place.
Psalms 10:1-3 1 Why do You stand afar off, O Yahweh? Why do You hide Yourself in times of distress? 2 In his lofty pride the wicked hotly pursues the afflicted; Let them be caught in the thoughts which they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of his soul’s desire, And the greedy man curses and spurns Yahweh.
Psalms 31:17-19 17 O Yahweh, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon You; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. 18 Let the lying lips be mute, Which speak arrogantly against the righteous With lofty pride and contempt. 19 How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have worked for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men!
Psalms 31:23-24 23 Oh, love Yahweh, all you His holy ones! Yahweh guards the faithful But repays fully the one who acts in lofty pride. 24 Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who wait for Yahweh.
Psalms 36:10-12 10 Continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 Let not the foot of pride come upon me, And let not the hand of the ungodly drive me away. 12 There the workers of wickedness have fallen; They have been thrust down and cannot rise.
Psalms 59:12-13 12 On account of the sin of their mouth and the word of their lips, Let them even be caught in their pride, And on account of curses and lies which they utter. 13 Destroy them in wrath, destroy them that they may be no more; That men may know that God rules in Jacob To the ends of the earth. Selah.
Psalms 75:4-5 4 I said to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ And to the wicked, ‘Do not raise up the horn; 5 Do not raise up your horn on high, Nor speak with insolent pride.’”
Proverbs 8:13 13 The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the mouth of perverted words, I hate.
Proverbs 14:3 3 In the mouth of the ignorant fool is a rod of lofty pride, But the lips of the wise will keep them.
Proverbs 16:17-19 17 The highway of the upright is to turn away from evil; He who guards his way keeps his soul. 18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. 19 It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 29:23 23 A man’s lofty pride will bring him low, But a lowly spirit will take hold of glory.
Proverbs 15:25 25 Yahweh will tear down the house of the proud, But He will cause the boundary of the widow to stand.
Isaiah 13:9-11 9 Behold, the day of Yahweh is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. 11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the pride of the arrogant And bring low the lofty pride of the ruthless.
Mark 7:20-23 20 And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
1 John 2:15-17 15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God abides forever.
Luke 1:49-51 49 For the Mighty One has done great things for me, And holy is His name. 50 AND HIS MERCY IS UPON GENERATION AFTER GENERATION TOWARD THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. 51 He has done a mighty deed with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
This is by no means an extensive list of scriptures on the topics of pride, and humility. It is a good representation of the topics. If we take pride in anything except what God has accomplished, we are sinning. He is our provision. We live because He upholds us by the power of His word. He gets all of the glory. When we are proud of something outside of God, we are robbing God of His glory, and attributing it to ourselves. In other words, we are taking something that should be attributed to God, the Creator, and just Judge, and attributing it to ourselves. We are fallen, sinful, finite, creatures. This is a demonstration of what is said in Romans Chapter 1. We are there now. We are under God’s just judgment. We need individual, and national, repentance of sin. We need to all turn from our sins, and trust solely in the Jesus, and His justifying work on the cross.
Romans 1:18-32 God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions; for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
1. Cited from Dictionary.com
* All Bible verses are cited from the Legacy Standard Bible translation.
“As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.””
Psalm 51:16,17
“For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
1 John 1:5-10
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
Romans 7:14-25
“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
A sinner’s prayer.
Give to me a broken, and contrite heart O Lord.
Other sins, I have confessed,
And you have granted me repentance.
I have bee set free from the desire to do them.
They have become like vile disgusting things to me.
Lord, the besetting sin, has the aroma of death,
And the appearance of fullness, and beauty.
But I am seemingly unable to resist it.
It’s appeal is sweet, a lure, to bring me down into the depths of the grave.
Like Paul, Lord I have asked you to remove this messenger of satan, the accuser,
This thief of assurance who causes me to doubt.
Lord, I am weak, and in my weakness, I am strong.
I am strengthened by what is true of you.
In Christ there is no more condemnation.
In Christ we are complete, and holy.
In Christ we are seated in the heavenlies,
Joint heirs with Jesus, our Lord, and brother.
I confess Lord my sins, yes even my secret sins,
Yes even the besetting sins, that torment me day, and night.
I know that you will forgive me, and in my disgusting state,
You will use me for your glory. You cleanse me, and make me fit.
Lord I pray, please do not turn your face from me.
You are merciful, patient, and loving.
Forgive me, not on the the quality of my repentance of sin,
Or my want of love for Christ,
But on the basis of What you did on the cross.
Make me to trust in your justifying work alone,
And not in any vain effort of my undertaking.
Lord let me pass through this life, and death,
Into Your eternal, and unseen presence.
O my redeemer lives, and has redeemed me.
My final breath in this life, will be my first in eternity.
Make me obedient to You in my thoughts, and deeds.
I give my self as praise, and gratitude, to You O Lord,
If you have unbiblical preconceived notions about how you should be treated, or how your life should be going, you are not only in sin, but you will never be content, and you’ll always be angry.
If you are confused about your gender, you need the truth, not lies. If you pretend to be a man, when you are actually a woman, you will always know that you are not a man. It will be with you all the while. You will always know you are a woman pretending to be a man. You will never fit in with actual men. You don’t need people to help you lie to yourself. You need the truth. Your emotions are not tempered with knowledge that is true. This will only lead to more suffering. Accept the truth. The truth is that you have sinful feelings and thoughts. You, along with the rest of us, are perverted. We all need God to grant us repentance, and faith. Pray for God to lead you to actual truth, and free you from your sins. Trust the finished work of Jesus Christ, on the cross for your righteousness. He took our punishment, and satisfied the just wrath of God with His sacrifice. We need to repent of our sins, and trust solely in Him.
Sin, harmartia (ἁμαρτία), missing the mark of God’s perfect holiness, this is why we suffer. We are born spiritually stillborn, under the curse of the fall. We are the descendants of Adam, and in Adam have inherited a sin nature. Due to the curse, we are under the noetic effect of sin. Sin has effected every aspect of our being. We don’t perceive rightly with our senses. We don’t reason rightly with our faculties, and we don’t communicate rightly with our expressions. We are not true. God is perfect in all of His ways. When a person says that they believe in the doctrine of Total Depravity, they aren’t saying, “I can do nothing good.” They are saying, “Everything about me, has been affected by sin. Through and through, my every attribute is perverted from what was communicated during the creation.” When God created us in His image, He communicated many of His attributes in a lesser way, consistent with our nature as creatures. Original sin broke that image. So God can use us to do good things, but we are not good. We can be altruistic, but even that is tainted, or colored by our pervasive sinfulness. So the next time you want to attack the doctrine of Total Depravity as Calvinist heresy, perhaps you should do a study in hamartiology. Maybe you’ll learn just how depraved you are, and hopefully, it will magnify how much you need the Savior. When the breech is impassable, you have no hope except that which the Savior Christ Jesus has wrought in His atoning sufferings on the cross. Soli Deo Gloria!
We, knowing our own sin, and the power of temptation to keep drawing us in. We should be the first to have mercy, and demonstrate grace to others who don’t even know the Savior. Just like us, they know in their hearts, they don’t deserve mercy or grace from us or God.
The Word of God says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (NASB) Romans 5:8”
Some of us know addiction. There is a compulsion to do something that goes against every intent of our minds, but is so overwhelming. With obese people it is the compulsion to overeat. With drug/alcohol addicts, they need the high/drunk. With adulterers they crave what they shouldn’t have. With the homosexual/porn addict/pervert, they want what is wrong. How can they know freedom from their sin, and the punishment of it? How can they fight against it? How can we preach the gospel if we are only condemning them? How can they ever know forgiveness if we only act in as self-righteous hypocrites?
” Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (NASB) Philippians 2:1-11
So be like Christ to the world. People are suffering in hopelessness, resigned to the notion that they will forever be a slave to their addictions, compulsions, and sins. Do the most loving thing, and preach the gospel of Jesus to them.
If they hear the gospel and get saved, what do they do if the temptations are still there? What does it mean if they sin again, and their hearts are being broken each time they give in to what the compulsion to sin is driving them to?
The gospel can set them free from their sinful compulsions. It doesn’t always happen immediately, but through repentance and faith, God will sanctify them, and give them victory over their sinful compulsions. His grace is sufficient. How long are you willing to stay in the fight against your sin? How many times are you willing to allow the shame and guilt to drive you to the feet of Christ to ask Him to forgive you? Don’t give up on coming to Him. Don’t let your loss of a battle, or many battles shake your faith in Jesus. He has won the victory for us. Trust in His victory.
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. “(NASB) Philippians 1:6
God will forgive everyone who repents of their sin, and believes in the work of Jesus Christ alone. Don’t trust in your own righteousness, because it is filthy to God. Don’t trust in your good deeds, because they are tainted by your sin. Don’t trust in ceremony or rituals, they just tire you out. Trust in the God/Man Jesus Christ. He will demonstrate grace to you based on His love and goodness, not on any thing you might think deserves favor from Him.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (NASB) 1 John 1:9-10
May God grant you faith to believe in the work of the Savior, and repentance from sin. Put your faith in His finished work, and trust only in Jesus for your salvation. God will deal with you sins and justify you. He will keep dealing with your sins, and sanctify you. He will finally deal with your sins, and give you a glorified body to live with Him forever. In that eternal life you will never desire sin again. You will finally be free to only the will of God without temptation.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (NASB) Romans 5:8-11
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (NASB) 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “ But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (NASB) Romans 1:16-17
So live by faith! Believe that Jesus will do what He says. Believe He is who the Bible says He is. Believe the gospel, the good news preached in his name. He will demonstrate His grace to you if you repent and put your faith in Him.
None of us are sinlessly perfect. Everyone of us is aware of a specific sin in our lives. Some of us wonder if we are even saved because of that specific sin that is in our lives. Some of us are at war with the sin, while others are complacently allowing for it. Which group are you in?
We are endangered when we count on our own efforts to fight the sin, and then failing time and time again, only to have doubt come in and rob us of our assurance, or we justify our sin away as if it is only a trifle, no big deal, everyone does it, and we allow for it instead of fighting against it. We count on grace to keep us safe. Both ways of thinking are wrong. We should be at war with our sins, knowing that Christ has won the war against sin once and for all. It is our lot to stand in front of the enemy before us and engage in the fight with all we have, resting in the knowledge that the outcome of the war has already been secured even if we fail in our battle time and time again, but with practice and provision from the Holy Spirit, and God’s word, we should be strengthened. God will sanctify us, and mature us out of that fight into another fight. We will keep fighting sin until we die, and are resurrected into a glorified body, that will only do that which is pleasing to God.
If you find yourself in the other group, using grace as a license for sin, sitting back in defeat, without a hope of ever growing, don’t give in. Now is the time to stand up and fight. Don’t prove you were never saved at all. Don’t harden your heart to the calling of the Holy Spirit to get in the fight. Don’t have a false assurance of your conversion. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you [a]fail the test?” 2 Cor 13:5 You might experience a pleasant surprise. If you get back in the fight, repent and ask Christ to forgive you, He will. You can have assurance of your salvation. You can know you are saved. You can know through the fight, successes and failures, that drive you back to the cross again and again for grace. Don’t focus on you and your fight. Focus on Christ and His fight. Focus on His victory over sin, death and the grave. Focus on His victory imputed to you by faith and enjoy the peace between you and God in the midst of the violent war against sin in your life.
So according to the immoral left, we must accept homosexuality as moral. They insist that love is love, and question, “Who are you to stand in the way of love?” For a Christian it is simple. God says it is sinful in His word. God defines true love in His sacrifice to pay for sin. What you have is not love. It is abominable narcissistic lust for a carbon copy of yourself. Sure you have feelings for the person, but it is not God’s love that you have for them. It is not the type of love demonstrated by Christ on the cross. You can only know that love if you have been crucified with Him, if you’ve been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit.
According to an article on, “The Daily Mail.com” There is a mother and son who are in an incestuous relationship. They are quite unrepentant about it. They even site homosexuality’s argument of, “Who are you to say what two consenting adults should do?” If you don’t believe me, read the article and watch the videos here.
So, you all remember that slippery slope we were telling you about? The country is sliding down it. If you affirm homosexual relationships from a purely pragmatic, natural, or emotional position you have no foundation to say this is immoral, or wrong. Whereas a Christian who believes in an external moral authority, who is supreme in authority, and declares what perverse abominations are, then you have a grounds to say if something is immoral or wrong. I happen to be one of those intolerant, Bible thumping, bigots, who will declare that this is wrong according to God’s word. Oh and by the way, here is why this is happening;
“Romans 1:18-32 NASB For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, (19) because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. (20) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (21) For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (22) Professing to be wise, they became fools, (23) and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (24) Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. (25) For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (26) For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, (27) and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. (28) And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, (29) being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, (30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; (32) and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
We can see what God said to the Levites in the Old Testament concerning these things specifically. Since God is the same always and forever and never changes, we know that He still has the same will in regards to these abominations. “Leviticus 18:5-30 NASB ‘So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD. (6) ‘None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the LORD. (7) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness. (8) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. (9) ‘The nakedness of your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover. (10) ‘The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness is yours. (11) ‘The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness. (12) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s blood relative. (13) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s blood relative. (14) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother; you shall not approach his wife, she is your aunt. (15) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. (16) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. (17) ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is lewdness. (18) ‘You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness. (19) ‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity. (20) ‘You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her. (21) ‘You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. (22) ‘You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. (23) ‘Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion. (24) ‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. (25) ‘For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. (26) ‘But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you (27) (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled); (28) so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. (29) ‘For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. (30) ‘Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the LORD your God.'””
Recently, I had a conversation with a person on social media about sins, and mistakes. Their first assertion was that, sins are the willful transgression of the known will of God. The second assertion was that people are not culpable to God for mistakes that they make. Lastly, they failed to define what mistakes are, even when asked several times. I quickly identified this as a Nazarene Church member, because I had been a member for approximately 19 years give or take. I decided since they came to my page to discuss this issue that it was a proper opening to engage them. I typically don’t go to other people’s pages and comment on things I don’t agree with. I see it as bad etiquette, but if they come to me, so be it. Listed below is the section 5.3 Sin, Original and Personal from the Nazarene Church’s Preamble and Articles of Faith;
“5.3. We believe that actual or personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person. It is therefore not to be confused with involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the Fall. However, such innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary to the spirit of Christ, which may properly be called sins of the spirit. We believe that personal sin is primarily and essentially a violation of the law of love; and that in relation to Christ sin may be defined as unbelief.
Personal sin: Matthew 22:36-40 {with 1 John 3:4}; John 8:34-36; 16:8-9; Romans 3:23; 6:15-23; 8:18-24; 14:23; 1 John 1:9-2:4; 3:7-10)”
As you can see from their article, it is what has led some of them to their minimization of sin, thus diminishing the importance of the gospel, as well as creating a legalistic approach to righteousness. This last consequence is also a product of their doctrine of Entire Sanctification. Their doctrine of Entire Sanctification is also a product of their minimization of sin. This is what Article 10 says about Entire Sanctification;
“X. Christian Holiness and Entire Sanctification
10. We believe that sanctification is the work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. It is wrought by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit in initial sanctification, or regeneration (simultaneous with justification), entire sanctification, and the continued perfecting work of the Holy Spirit culminating in glorification. In glorification we are fully conformed to the image of the Son.
We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.
It is wrought by the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service. Entire sanctification is provided by the blood of Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by grace through faith, preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.
This experience is also known by various terms representing its different phases, such as “Christian perfection,” “perfect love,” “heart purity,” “the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit,” “the fullness of the blessing,” and “Christian holiness.””
Not that long ago the Nazarene Church made some changes to their Articles of Faith. What I linked to is their current one. They have clarified it to some degree, but you can’t lay all the blame on the average Church goer for their personal affirmation of false doctrines. After reading the Articles of Faith, I can see what they are trying to express, but it can confuse the layman. I think this is mostly due to their Ordo Salutis, and Semi-Pelagianism that is all part of the traditions of a portion of the people in the denomination. From what I understand they are slowly trying to move away from the errors of Semi-Pelagianism that were made in the past.
If you are old enough you’d remember a different looking CotN. The girls mostly wore dresses, and dancing was not allowed. They looked and acted like Pentecostal versions of the Mennonites almost. Some believed that a person could be entirely sinless in their life. That is what their personal understanding of their doctrine of Entire Sanctification looked like. If you read it now, you can see it is a bit more nuanced, but you can also see how it could lead someone to believe the other way. When you look at Wesley’s writings on the topic, if you have a good theological foundation, you can see where he is heading. The problem lies in the fact that so many people are very simple in their education and ability to reason, that they take his work to mean what it appears to mean at a superficial reading. I’m not saying I agree with his conclusions. I actually think he was poorly repaving a road that had been well paved, and traveled long before him, by men more learned and brilliant.
I see Wesley as more of an evangelist and less of a theologian. I understand him to be attempting to make room for people who don’t know, or believe, everything rightly all the time to still be saved. All of us are wrong all the time about something whether we know it or not. That doesn’t ruin our justification. I used to think the Trinity was best expressed as the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as all three parts of God. I had no idea that was the heresy of partialism. Once I was taught by more mature Christians from scripture that they are three persons, one God I was able to repent of my heresy. Was I not saved back then? I think I was, but I was a material heretic. I was not a formal heretic. If I’d persisted to death in a heresy, and rejected all correction, then I would have proven to be a false convert and formal heretic.
The person I was having the discussion with was of the old fashion persuasion. They didn’t read Wesley. They just took a superficial approach to their denomination’s doctrines and ran with it. So for them, sin was simply willfully transgressing a known law of God and it excludes mistakes, infirmities, failures, faults, emotions, (feelings) and thoughts. They also argued that a Christian will stop sinning completely, even though I showed them 1 John 1:8 and explained that John was addressing Christians. I was also told that if I sinned and then died immediately after, without repenting, that I would go to Hell. This is another one of their misguided beliefs. They believe that a genuine Christian can apostatize by willfully sinning. What I was dealing with was a Semi-Pelagian. It is interesting because they make a categorical error by contrasting sins with mistakes. I don’t know if it ever occurred to them that a sin is always sinful, but a mistake can be sin or not sin. I mentioned this and got no answer. The same can be said for the other things listed that they say are not sin. We know that having a lustful thought pop into your head and dwelling on it, is a sin. We must take every thought captive so it doesn’t come to fruition in deed. We also know that to God we are guilty of that sin. It sure is a good thing that Christ justified me, and paid for all of my sin. I am exceedingly sinful, and exceedingly thankful for His righteousness that He imputed to me. I think this eludes the Semi-Pelagian. They are in a works righteousness faith where they must maintain their position of being righteous by works. This particular flavor of Semi-Pelagian makes this task less daunting by watering down sin and man’s responsibility. In so doing they rob God of the glory, as it were. So much the worse for them, as many of them are not truly saved, but still lost. Of course, I would not say that all of them are lost. Some may be material heretics, just waiting to be corrected and brought to repentance. Could you be the one to speak into their lives with the truth?
So, you are a modern woman, and you have heard, perhaps even said, “I can do what I want! You don’t own me! I don’t need a man!” Well, if you are Christian woman, you should eschew such ignorant, godless, rhetoric. It is prideful and selfish. Very unbecoming of a Christian man or woman. I am so sick of how the world has been portraying husbands and wives. Let’s not allow the culture to define us. Let’s be defined by God’s word.
Imagine a man who claims to be Christian, and won’t submit to God’s word. Instead of doing what God has commanded, he does what he wants. Is that a man who is at war with his sinful flesh, or is that a man who is giving into his flesh?
Imagine a man who claims that nobody has ownership of him. We know that is wrong. God tells us in His word that our bodies do not belong to us. A husband’s body belongs to his wife. A wife’s body belongs also to her husband, but God owns them both. They are His creatures. The ones who die in rebellion, will burn forever in Hell. He will pour out His righteous wrath on them for eternity.
Imagine now, an arrogant, prideful, man exclaiming that he doesn’t need a woman. That man is calling God a liar. Why, the very first book in God’s word explains why He made Eve. It was because it was not good for man to be alone. God made for him a helpmate. Everyone knows that men need women. If we are to be fruitful and multiply it is obvious. So, to subdue the Earth, we must have wives and they must have husbands.
Modern notions of gender are so diabolically satanic. They defile, degrade, and mock what God has made for our good and His glory. The enemy loves it every time a feminist howls in rebellion, every time a man becomes a selfish boy. We need to embrace our roles as God has defined and ordained them to be. We should reject what culture says. The cultural hermeneutic says, “The verses in the Bible that tell a woman to submit to her husband, the verses that say a woman should not teach or have authority over a man, the verses that tell men to support their families, to be the spiritual leaders of their homes and Churches, the word of God that tells us how to live as godly men and women should not be applied as God intended because modern culture’s consensus is superior.” Well, last time I checked, we don’t ask culture to explain God to us, we read His words and hear straight from God Himself in the reading of it. I don’t have to consult the latest social pundits. God has spoken, and He has done so with the ultimate authority that entails.
Want to know why your marriage doesn’t work? Want to know why you are miserable in your Church? Want to know why your children run your home? Simple, you have forsaken God’s will as expressed in His word. Rebels and scoundrels, each and every one of us! Repent and believe the word of God and live to please the Savior who has bled and suffered for you on the cross of His crucifixion. Christ submitted to the will of the Father to cleanse for Himself a bride. That bride is the Church. It submits to Christ. Submit yourselves to His headship as Lord and master of your lives. This means even unto death. We must love our wives as Christ loved the Church. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. We did not deserve His love or sacrifice. We were, by nature His enemies, and He died to save us. Men, love your wives when they don’t deserve it. Women love your husbands when they don’t deserve it. Men, submit to Christ. Women, submit to your husbands, not because he says to, but because the one, true, living God, almighty says to!
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
[Ephesians 5:22-33 KJV]
Husband, head, protector, provider. Not what T.V. says, not what the movies show.
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