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My dear Faith, attired in pink night clothes,
laid sleeping as I kissed her and lit a candle to go check on
the House of God. As I turned the rusty doorknob, rusted of course
by those hands dripping wet from the baptisms they had received,
a breeze blew out the last little flicker of my light. Yet, the
moon gave slightly enough illumination as to allow a small glimpse
into the House.
Stumbling in the dark, I heard laughter turn into
a smoker's wheezy cough as a group of overseers sat in the back
pew telling off color jokes. Near the front the moon reflected
the faces of some young girls who had been with child but yet
they sat childless. Then I heard a familiar voice. It was my old
friend. Thank God, a person I know! The very person who had told
me so much about the Way. He sat with guitar in hand singing dirges
in the dark to a group of unwed girls he had came to know. Then
my eyes beheld the pulpit. Moonlight danced off spider webs that
had been made in the baptistery pool. The priestess O'Hare was
marrying two men - one who had left his wife and children, for
the love of the other who had recently been acquitted from law
stripped by the courts.
At that moment, while my hand reached for the
light switch, I heard the voice of my dear friend Hope. Hope was
calling my name. My thoughts returned to my Love. As I turned
the light on the only face I saw in the mirror was my own. Could
these images be the things I harbor in my heart for the House
of the Lord? Is that what I have helped allow the House of God
to become?
The House of God isn't a fancy building sitting
on choice real estate. The House of God is built in the hearts
of men. Today the House of God is threatened by the hearts of
men. Our Lord spoke of these things through the prophet Isaiah
when he said, "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their
mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts
far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment
of men" (Isaiah 29:13). Man has drifted from the teachings
of God, and now takes up the positions of man.
Many God preaching Christians have taken up the
position that abortion, the killing of the unborn child, is not
murder. Against the plain teachings of the Lord, "You Shall
not murder" (Exodus 20:13). Forgetting the teachings of the
Lord in Genesis 9:6, "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his
blood shall be shed," we have allowed the legalized murder
of the image of God.
In the 1960's it was decided that God was no longer
welcomed in our schools. This was done in spite of the fact that
Jesus said, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who
believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone
were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of
the sea" (Matthew 18:6). The "little ones" are
no longer taught abstinence; they are given condoms and pills
and instructed in how to use them. Totally disregarding the teachings
we have, "Therefore put to death your members which are on
the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and
covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).
We have forsaken the morality taught us by the
Word. Instead, we have allowed world leaders to define such things
as "adultery," "fornication," and even when
life becomes human. Homosexuality is no longer hidden in the dark
corners of life; it is mainstream. Ordination of the sodomite
has become a reality in spite of the teachings of the Lord. "If
a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have
committed an abomination" (Leviticus 20:13). Putting a homosexual
in charge to lead others to salvation knowing that, "Neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor
sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God" (Romans
6:9-10).
The fire that the was once had for God, has been
mixed with the coldness of the world, making us "lukewarm."
Are we ready to become like the church of the Laodiceans? Are
we ready for God to "vomit [us] out of [His] mouth?"
(Revelation 3:18).
These things that could easily qualify as abominations
that lead to desolation do not have to be. We have the Way before
us, the Word of God. Just because man's laws say abortion, or
any abomination for that matter is legal, doesn't mean we, as
Christians, have to approve of it and live by that law. We have
the perfect law of Liberty. Second Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, "All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every
good work."
We have to delight "in the law of the Lord,
And in His law meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). In so
doing, " He shall strengthen your heart" (Psalm 27:14).
Unlike the laws of man, which change to fit each passing whim,
the laws of God are unchanged through the centuries. The Psalmist
wrote, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans
of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11). The same
Word we came to accept is the same Word we are to live by. Our
Savior does not change when the opinions of society seem to change.
As the writer of Hebrews stated so plainly, "Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
We have within our grasp the power to "clean"
the House of God. Our hearts have to follow the teachings we came
to accept, "even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him
be accursed" (Galatians 1:8), not the ones made by man. We
have to follow the advice that was given to the church in Ephesus,
"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and
do the first works" (Revelation 2:5). There are people who
change the Words of God to fit their own lifestyles, "from
such people turn away" (2 Timothy 2:5). We have to "turn
away from evil and do good" (1 Peter 3:11) because "the
face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12).
The House of God will be cleaned when we turn
our hearts away from the world and back to Jesus, "For with
the heart one believes unto righteousness" (Romans 10:10).
It's up to us.
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