Fallen at birth with a sin nature from Adam and Eve, we are corrupted and unable to see sin as sin, an offence to God. The fallen conscience is the zone for our thoughts to do battle over what is right and wrong. With or without parents to help us negotiate through the tough terrain of valuing right and wrong we bump along forming our biases and presuppositions.
Regardless of what contributions or lack of inputs the family upbringing had to guide our conscience the Bible is how our Creator God teaches and directs us, His creatures.
Being mindful of the fact that we are born with and develop our flawed conscience as our inner guide to direct our lives we all should be thankful for positive role models. Those who have honored God, studied the Bible and live out their belief give us examples of what it is to receive blessings from God.
What we feed or don’t feed our minds will be the basis for our conscience’s to draw on in our lifetime. How we are informed or what source of truth or lies is used to influence a person’s mind, reasoning and conscience, it’s the information we receive that makes all the difference in this world and in eternity. The conscience is helped or hindered in making a choice which is then manifested in an action or inaction.
What we refer to as good information or as bad garbage going in, produces good actions or garbage coming out.
A person’s so called clean conscience (without considering God) has weighed the options and separated itself from the guilt of contemplating evil or unlawful activity. The motive for choosing to do good, may be the fear of the law and jail, or the consequences weren’t worth the risk. Hence, the person gets the credit for doing good.
Thankfully a mind that has been taught the Bible has been equipped with God’s guidance to discern what is right and wrong (Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”) It is a wonderful thing to have a guilt free conscience and thank God for working His will in your life. It’s quite a different thing to be wrestling with temptation, sin and a compromising conscience.
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The first half of America’s history was a rise in prominence and power. The early Christians of America separated themselves from other countries in the world by first having God’s guidance (the Bible) lived out in their consciences as men and women who loved God first and foremost. Through time the people’s sin of choosing to ignore the Bible has made the second half of America’s history a steady catastrophic decline.
Now in 2015, in order to fit into the new world order of all nations choosing to ignore Jesus as God, science is being raised as a replacement God which can save the people of earth from destroying themselves. The historic majority of the American mindset that once acknowledged Jesus as Lord is rapidly being replaced with a new mindset of having electronic devices and worshipping technology.
The same problem of where to spend eternity still exists. Since it’s not a desired application to download and ponder it’s still one of the most ignored topics along with Jesus is God, the Bible and Hell.
There’s nothing new with the idea of fitting in and being accepted. The notion of the importance of being popular, above being right and not wrong, is an old sin. Greedy attention for pleasure and fulfilment in its many forms is a sin that’s repeated in people’s lives. Self-greed, corporate greed and world power greed is brought to us through entertainment and now played out on the world stage.
Henceforth, popular influences like internet entertainment, movies, television, radio and books are large, weighty vehicles for stimulating the positive and negative directions of group think, crowd opinion and peer pressure.
The guilty sin conscience of an individual who has violated the laws of God and man can be hushed and inhibited by peer pressure and group think but still have damaging ramifications. This crowd opinion can also greatly influence the private matters of an individual leader, president or king and even courts to the point of silencing truth and not doing what is right for the nation in the eyes of God through His Holy Scriptures.
America’s tragic sin problem corrupting morals at any age continues to submerge much of the population in the deep deceptive waters of political correctness. Our nation is drowning in sin and no one is calling sin, sin. Racial prejudice is overtly wrong, it’s hateful, hurtful, it’s mean-spirited and covertly it’s silently deceptive in how we relate to people.
But nobody is calling prejudice a sin because then America would have to admit to the new world order it has a sin problem, therefore it cannot fit in. But prejudice is a sin in the hearts of humankind. All the laws in the world cannot change a person’s heart. But God can.
Thanks be to God for His grace and mercy. God has given the gift of truth in the life of Jesus. In response to God’s sovereign grace which is greater than any sin or evil overtaking our land people are calling out to God.
From the desperation of their own need for the Savior and being surrounded with social sin their call to God is for the only Savior Christ Jesus to save them includes cries to correct our countries wrong direction.
In these days of disarray and division there are humble Americans swimming up out of corrupting sins of immorality which are reinforced by Judges and the Supreme Court. They are drawn toward the Lighthouse of God’s Holy Word and taking His breath of new spiritual life, calling Christ Lord and Savior.
People are learning the need to be discerning what is right and wrong through the lens of Scriptures.
Once the truth of Christ the Messiah is accepted then right and wrong are clearly seen. The guilt of sin becomes a gift of God in a new heightened conscience that removes the darkness from your eyes so you can see sin as sin and repent. Like a lost hiker receiving a compass to guide them out of the thick woods, the loving light of Jesus leads you through the difficulties of life and strengthens your willpower to stand up for the truth of God.
During these times of trouble and tribulation what matters is faithful biblical Christians pointing to the source of safety, Christ Jesus, and leading troubled souls by example.
The personal testimony of a truly converted soul, out of darkness and into the Bibles’ light of truth, is a powerful weapon against the chains of sin that bind so many in ignorance.
Sometimes questions and answers are elusive. Sometimes telling the truth now is more important than waiting for an ideal time to discuss philosophies. Sometimes just doing what your told matters.
Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of this age.”
We obey this command by injecting Bible truths and personal testimony in to conversations when we are able. As serious as sin’s failures, shortcomings, and injuries in this lifetime directly or indirectly affect our life and other people’s lives the real consequences of sinning are eternal.
For most people the problem is covering up sin, excusing it and never admitting they’re a sinner. Therefore the problem for sinners is the Bible which exposes those things that displease God, or those sin’s offending God.
Sin wouldn’t be recognized without the Bible teaching us the perfection and holiness of our sinless Creator God. The consequences of sin’s effects wouldn’t help correct us and guide us to limit the frequency of sin without the Bible.
The sure penalty of sin is eternal spiritual death in hell. The punishment of our sin would not be lifted without the sacrifice of Messiah Christ Jesus, dying in our place, as the truth is taught in the Bible.
The ultimate defeat of sin’s eternal suffering is in the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. He conquered death and Jesus tells us in John 14:1 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The truth is in the Bible.
Shouting fire in a burning building engulfed in flames does no good. Or does it? You don’t know until you try. What does matter is the attempt to save a life.
Shouting salvation is in the Lord, in America, amid the increase of burning legalized sin and the increase of sin’s deadly affect‘s now and on the young matters. It matters because by the grace of God a lost soul may be saved from eternal death in hell once the gift of the Holy Spirit brings God’s truth and conviction.
Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
When a figurative blast of social or personal devastation occurs, will you hide and pray? How loud will the disorienting blast be? How much damage will instantly occur? What kind of widespread destruction will take place and be seen in the repercussion? After the blast will there be a big hole of disruption, big enough for a group to fit in and seek help?
Each soul must deal with walking in the truth of Jesus Christ or walking away from the Savior of souls.
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As a young boy in the late 50s and early 60s I saw plenty of movies and television productions of war. Battlefield advancement always involved gunfire with the enemy and very often was accompanied by bombshell explosions. A soldier running headlong into the force of the enemy was either an act of courage or the last act of a mental breakdown.
Witnessing the human carnage of maimed bodies and hearing the screams of horror sometimes had the effect of freezing a soldier’s mind, who was then unable to move forward. Seeking cover by jumping into a hole created by bombshell blast was understandable in an effort to avoid shrapnel.
These battlefield bombshell divots got the name “foxholes.” The idea that Fox’s would dig holes or make a den, in order to protect their litter was the obvious connection to the name. Henceforth in the heat of the battle jumping into a hole was for protection with the intention to avoid dying. The scene would sometimes show a soldier praying and confessing his sins.
Thus the term “foxhole confession” was generally understood as asking God to save them from the immediate danger. Agreeing with God on whatever God wanted with the condition that God would get them out of trouble was the goal of a battlefield prayer.
However, once God did save the soldier with an obvious answer to prayer and the battle had subsided life continued. Any conditions to agree with God were quickly forgotten because they were insincere. Reaching out to God was a temporary act of desperation, a foxhole confession.
Sincerity with God is a matter of the heart that should not be taken lightly, there are irreversible eternal consequences. Ephesians 6:24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
The invisible spiritual warfare that has existed since the Garden of Eden has created a bombshell blast of sin over the centuries. All people are living in the daily unseen contagious destruction from the continuous effects of sin. In our sinful world of aggravated divisions sins crippling effect on all societies has increasing.
As the deliberate blindness of sin grows people continue to hide behind their chosen ignorance.
Simultaneously with sin’s advances of immorality, the hand of God’s protecting grace is being withdrawn. With what appears to be, a soon-to-be, culmination of increased spiritual warfare, God’s great love overrides all. As of right now there is breath in your lungs and perfection of Christ’s can be yours.
Through the viewpoint of division there are those who have and those who have not. Those who have God’s great love know their soul is secure in their love for Jesus. Those who have not God’s great love know not the security of their soul with their rejection of Jesus.
There are those who have faith in and through Jesus and only Jesus. And there are those who have faith in humankind without Jesus.
2 Corinthians 6:2 Behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.
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