Radical Truth #2: Jesus Commands that We Give Away the Excess to the Truly Needy

I indicated in Radical Truth 1 that there are two commands by Jesus that form this radical doctrine, and I’ve only covered one--Matthew 6:19-21:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in an steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven….

The other command is in Luke 12:33. In the NIV it is very plain:

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

These verses are paired—note the repetition of the phrase “treasure in heaven,” and the “thief” and “moth” illustration. So here is our combined doctrine: In Matthew 6, we were told not to accumulate wealth assets. If we have been accumulating assets, the Luke verse tells us to what to do with them; we are to sell them—and give the money to the poor. This doctrine will radically change how you handle your finances—if you’re interested in obeying every command of Jesus, and really WANT to have treasure in heaven.

But when I mention this doctrine to church folks, they get quiet and mildly uncomfortable, evidently not excited about building treasure in heaven. Overall, based on dollars given, it seems the plain fact about America is this: There are a lot of middle class people who call themselves Christian who really don’t care a bit about giving serious money to the poor. (I’m referring to the worldwide poor, those who die tragically early, without enough to eat or suffering from preventable disease). Most of their giving will go to their church, so lots of it gets spent boosting the facility and the programs and salaries. But little tithing goes for the poor, per se. Does anybody say, “The Holy Spirit is definitely beating me up about something in my daily prayers—how many of these poor people worldwide dying every day from malnutrition or sickness could have been, or could be, my brothers or sisters? It just blows my mind that I could actually save their lives but I’m wasting my money instead. Let’s get together and discuss fasting on occasion and living frugally and pool the savings and give it to them. We could save lives!” Music to our Lord’s ears! But rare.

American “Christians,” wake up! Consider again Luke 12:16-21, covered in Part 1 of this study, about what happens to a man whose sin was "he lays up treasure for himself:"

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Are we that rich fool? Could God be angry at us--maybe even eternally angry--because we consume and stock up, and are not thinking much about helping the poor? Read Luke 16:19-25:

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell[a] from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

The rich man is in hades, flames and excruciating pain and all, and don’t you think Jesus wants us to know what his sin was that got him there? Of course! Are you going to say, “We don’t know because He doesn’t say”? On such an important issue, paradise vs hades, is God going to be silent? That seems to be an insupportable argument. No, the ONLY conclusion is, the rich man is in hades because he had no compassion for the suffering poor man. He knew the man was there, “at his gate.” So he walked right by him whenever he left home, and whenever he returned. But he didn’t help. Well, are we churchgoers in America a step above this today? Maybe you’ll say, “None of them are at my door.” But they’re on your TV, they’re on the internet, or you get calls on the phone. That’s your gate. Will you end up, surprised as this man was, at the same horrible final destination?

Jesus makes another radical statement in Matthew 19:23:

Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

He even stresses the point by saying it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. The disciples were shocked at hearing that; they assumed (as we do) that wealth is proof that God loves you. Jesus says completely the opposite. Jesus is really saying wealth will almost certainly tear you away from God so you won’t make it to heaven. Think about that. That really makes gathering riches a curse. (I’m not saying a high income is a curse. I’m saying plowing it into personal assets is a curse). Would you grasp at something if you knew it would almost wipe out your chance at heaven? You’d think, “Nooo way.” But we do that very thing. Now of course you might say, throughout this paper, “No problem; I’m not rich.” Well, in the Big Picture, almost all Americans are rich. We are the richest society, by far, in all of world history—in fact, our poorest 5% are richer than India’s richest 5% even now, to just give one perspective. So, you who are reading this—even if you’re middle class, even lower middle class, in America—you’re rich. All the frivolities in America distract you, they deceive you--you assume you’re fine with God, but you’ve drifted away from dependence on Him, you become complacent, no longer a branch feeding off the Vine: and what happens to non-abiding branches? What happens to lukewarm people? They go to the fire or are vomited out of the body. Remember, Jesus said:

“narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14).

When you really meditate on these verses, you get the radical idea that the odds are stacked against Americans going to heaven, because of our relative wealth. Could a large number of us be self-deceived into thinking we’re going to heaven when we aren’t? Consider His warning in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

And when you consider America, the richest society on earth, what is the Father’s will, His burden, for most of us? Give more to the truly worldwide poor! They’re your sisters, your brothers! They need it more than you do!

Should Hallowe'en be Celebrated? Two Opposing Thoughts

I have, for your thought, two articles.  The first argues that Halloween is a church tradition before  an evil corruption.  The author argues that we should celebrate it for its original merits.  The second article says we should not celebrate at the same time as evil is being celebrated.  You choose which argument you like.

Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies — Hallowe’en: A short history

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Pastor Joseph Abrahamson

There is a lot of new mythology about Halloween that has been invented to claim that Halloween is a pagan holiday. It is not, and it never was a pagan holiday.

Where Did Halloween Start in the Christian Church?

In the first three centuries after Christ’s resurrection, the lives of the martyrs of the Church were commemorated on the day and in the place where they were killed.

There were so many who were killed because of their faith in Christ during those centuries. Throughout the Christian Church different days were set aside not only for each martyr, but a special day for all Saints.

The earliest reference to a day being dedicated to the commemoration of All the Martyrs and All Saints of the Christian Church comes from the 2nd century. The document is titled “The Martyrdom of Polycarp.” Polycarp was a Christian killed because he would not deny Christ. The document says:

Accordingly, we afterwards took up his bones, as being more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more purified than gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, whither, being gathered together, as opportunity is allowed us, with joy and rejoicing, the Lord shall grant us to celebrate the anniversary of his martyrdom, both in memory of those who have already finished their course, and for the exercising and preparation of those yet to walk in their steps. (Chapter 18) [Emphasis added]

Later, a Christian Bishop named Ephraim the Syrian mentions a common All Saints’ Day in 373. So, a common day for commemorating the Saints has been around throughout the Christian Church from very early times. And the fact that it falls on November 1^st today has nothing to do with paganism.

OK, so what does this have to do with Halloween? In the Bible the day begins at sundown or evening. This is why we have Christmas Eve. Halloween is All Hallows’ Eve‘, that is All Saints’ Evening. Halloween is the beginning of All Saints’ Day starting at sundown on October 31^st.

But, many of the Christian Churches in the Reformed traditions claim that Halloween is a pagan celebration. Very often they do this by referring to Neopagan and Wiccan writings. And there are many in the Neopagan and Wiccan communities who have tried hard to claim Halloween as an ancient pagan holiday that had been stolen by the Christian Church.

Don’t ever expect truth from Neopagans and Wiccans. They already live in a fantasy world created by their own fakelore. But folklore does not support the Neopagan or the Wiccan claims about Halloween. Instead they depend on fakelore: invented, and fake, pretend folklore. The typical claims in current sources are that Halloween came from “ancient Celtic practices, Catholic and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions.” With respect to the origins of All Saints’ Day these claim are false. With respect to the modern re-paganizing of Halloween, the Neopagan version of Halloween doesn’t really come from ancient pagan sources. It comes from modern sources that pretend to be old but are not. These modern sources are simply fiction.

Doesn’t Halloween Have Its Origins in Samhain?

Neopagans and Wiccans like to claim that the source of Halloween is the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced Sow-in). There are three basic problems with their claim.

1.   The celebration of All Saints’ Day didn’t originate in Ireland or any other area populated by Celts or their descendants.

2.   None of the days on which All Saints’ Day was celebrated had anything to do with any Celtic holiday.

3.   The celebration of All Saints’ Day in Celtic regions is documented to be older than the documented celebration of Samhain.

So let us look at each of these three claims:

1.   In order for the Neopagan and Wiccan claim that Samhain is the origin of Halloween to be true, then Halloween and All Saints’ Day should have started in Celtic areas. But All Saints’ Day was celebrated in Syria as early as 373 A.D, in Caesarea in 397 A.D., and in Constantinople (under Chrysostom—modern Istanbul) by 407 A.D. So All Saints’ Day, and Halloween didn’t start in the Celtic countries. But it did take some time for the declarations of Rome to reach distant Celtic areas like Ireland.

2.   In order for the Neopagan and Wiccan claim that Samhain is the origin of Halloween to be true the particular day chosen should have some significance to the Celts and Samhain. But here we run into some serious problems. According to the best sources, Samhain was a Lunar festival of harvest. That means that the day of Samhain can vary up to a month in difference from any Solar year day. Compare, for example, the wide variety of days upon which Easter can take place. When sources claim that Samhain was October 31 to November 1 in the modern Solar Calendar they are being dishonest and disingenuous. They are intending to deceive the reader. Due to the differences between lunar and solar dates, on the average Samhain would take place exactly on October 31st only once in about every 30 years. When the reader adds into this the fact that the Western Calendar changed over from the Julian to the Gregorian at different times in different places, the reader can better understand how artificial the Neopagan and Wiccan claims are about Samhain. The Christian Church didn’t get Halloween/All Saints’ Day from the pagans, the pagans are trying to claim that Christians stole from them. But the Neopagans and Wiccans cannot even get their calendars straight. And they are hoping that the reader doesn’t notice how weak and embarrassing their claim is.

3.   In order for the Neopagan and Wiccan claim that Samhain is the origin of Halloween to be true Samhain they should be able to prove that Samhain is older than All Saints’ Day. But, in fact, the opposite is true. We have a manuscript from 843 A.D. where the Irish Christian Bishop Óengus of Tallaght wrote about the celebration of All Saints’ Day. It was celebrated in the Spring of the year at that time and in that place. The Decree of Pope Gregory IV had still not reached Ireland so that All Saints’ Day should be celebrated November 1^st.

But the earliest-ever-mention of Samhain in Irish folklore doesn’t come until the 10^thCentury (Ronald Hutton’s 1996 book Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain). There is no mention of Samhain outside of Ireland until centuries later.

These, then, are the facts.

Samhain comes from the 10^th Century A.D. and is a newer invention. All Saints’ day is older than Samhain. All Saints’ Day came from the practice of honoring the Christian Martyrs in Israel, Turkey, and Syria as early as the 2^nd Century and later.

All Saints’ Day and therefore Halloween originated outside the Celtic sphere of influence and had nothing to do with what the Neopagan and Wiccan claims are about its origin.

In fact, the newer holiday, called Samhain, was a Lunar holiday. This means that it could be celebrated on any of 30 or so days in Autumn of a given year depending on when the harvest moon was recognized in Ireland. And very, very rarely did this moon happen on October 31^st. This simple truth cannot be emphasized enough.

Any book or website or article that claims that the ancient Celts celebrated Samhain on October 31 is perpetrating a lie. Modern Neopagans and Wiccans invented their own calendar through the 1970s and 1980s and they chose Oct. 31 to be the day for Samhain. It was a move on their part to put forward the false claim that Halloween started in paganism.

Why Would the Non-Christians Want to Undermine This Holiday?

All Saints’ Eve (Halloween) and All Saints’ Day have a special place in the commemoration of the Christian Church because of the Reformation. It was on October 31^st, Halloween, that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany. It was on that date he chose to challenge the corruption in the official church about the notion that salvation in Christ could be bought with money or works. All Saints are saved by Grace, through Faith, revealed by God’s Word in Christ.

Halloween, October 31^st is Reformation Day. On October 31, 1517 the Church of Christ began to return to the authority of Scripture alone over the traditions and will of man.

It should not be surprising that Satan and the World have gone to such extremes to defile Halloween with anything that would distract Christians and the unbelievers from Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia and Solus Christus   (Scripture Alone, Faith Alone,  Grace Alone, and Christ Alone).

Halloween Traditions:

In this world some traditions have become the mainstay of Halloween. Though these traditions are not necessarily a problem by themselves, they have been claimed by the Neopagans and Wiccans as evidence that Christianity is a fraud and newcomer that has replaced the “Older” so-called “Truth”. But they lie.

The Haunted House started in the early 1970s. The first records of Haunted Houses were from Cincinnati, Ohio where the Jaycees (Junior Chambers of Commerce) introduced the first Haunted Houses as a way to keep kids entertained on Halloween.

So which is older, All Saints Day starting in the 2^nd Century or Haunted Houses starting in the 1970s?

Jack o’Lanterns are an American invention from the mid 1800s. Ireland and Britain had older traditions of carving vegetables into lanterns. But those traditions are not ancient. Historian David J. Skal writes:

Although every modern chronicle of the holiday[ of Halloween] repeats the claim that vegetable lanterns were a time-honored component of Halloween celebrations in the British Isles, none gives any primary documentation. In fact, none of the major nineteenth-century chronicles of British holidays and folk customs make any mention whatsoever of carved lanterns in connection with Halloween. Neither do any of the standard works of the early twentieth century.
(see this and other helpful references cited at The Scoopie)

It was in 1837 that the term “Jack o’ Lantern” first appeared as a term for a carved vegetable lantern. Previously the term referred to the man or boy a town hired to keep the street lamps lit through the night. The pumpkin was used with the cornucopia as a fruit that was displayed throughout fall harvest time in America as a sign of God’s providential blessing.

There is a lot of folklore about the Jack O’Lantern, but it is fakelore invented to create a fictional scary history for the Jack O’Lantern. But which is older? All Saints’ Day or the Jack O’Lantern?

Trick or Treating is very popular in America and several other countries. In the Middle Ages (1300s to 1500s or so) there was a practice where children or the poor would go from door to door to beg. In some places these beggars would sing or perform in order to get gifts of money or food from householders. While this happened every day of the year, because these beggars had to eat every day, they were particular active on holidays. Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and All Saints’ Day were special days when children and adults would go from home to home singing hymns and carols and begging. A good source for what these people would sing is the Oxford Book of Carols.

In Shakespear’s 1593 play The Two Gentlemen of Verona the character Speed accuses his master of “puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas.” That’s our All Saints’ Day, November 1^st.

Wearing costumes on Halloween is first known in Scotland in 1895 and in the United States in 1911. The earliest use ot the words “trick or treat” is from 1927 in the United States. In the early 20^th Century there were thousands of postcards made with Halloween themes, but none of them showed “trick or treating” until the 1930s.

So what is older? All Saints’ Day or Trick or Treating?

Halloween, Reformation Day, All Saints’ Day is a very special day of the year for the Christian Church. We commemorate all saints past, present, and future with the confession that we cannot save ourselves with our own works, no price we could ever pay would be good enough. But Christ has paid for the whole world. And all believers in Christ, and these are the Saints, will be raised on the last day to eternal life. Reclaiming Halloween means knowing where it comes from, why the day was established, and the historical significance it holds for the Christian Church. Satan and the world are always willing to undermine and steal anything that is of value to the confession of the truth of Scripture. Let us not fall prey to the lies.

Enjoy Halloween! Enjoy Jack O’Lanterns, Enjoy Trick or Treating. But confess the truth!

Pastor Joseph Abrahamson serves Clearwater Lutheran Parish: a parish of four Confessional Lutheran congregations in very rural Northwestern, Minnesota. He and his wife, Mary, have 10 children. Pastor Abrahamson is a graduate of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary, and of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies. He has served on the Faculty/Staff at Bethany Lutheran College teaching Religion, Linguistics, Archaeology, and Self-Defense; and was on Staff at the University of Wisconsin as an Information Processing Consultant (Computer Geek) while doing graduate work in Semitics. Pastor Abrahamson has served Clearwater Lutheran Parish (ELS) for since Dec. 2001.

Why Christians Absolutely Should Not Celebrate Halloween

6:00AM EDT 10/21/2015 JAMIE MORGAN

Setting aside a day to celebrate evil, darkness, witchcraft, fear, death and the demonic brings disdain to God. Period. (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Many Christians celebrate Halloween. Some churches and pastors even do. I  recently saw a church advertising they were having a Zombie Run. Seriously? God's House? This pastor does not celebrate Halloween and neither does her church.

In a spirit of full disclosure, when I was a brand-new believer, I allowed my son to go trick-or-treating. Part of the reason was because my husband was not yet saved and insisted we do. The other part was because I didn't see the harm in it. After all, many Christians I respected did it, so as a new Christian I justified that it must be OK. Right? Wrong!

As I grew closer to the Lord and gained more knowledge of His Word, I began to feel convicted about Halloween. I had thoughts like:

o    God is a God of life, but Halloween focuses on death. Should I celebrate a holiday where people decorate their front yards with tombstones?

o    The Scriptures tell us to put away deeds of darkness (Rom.13:12) and that light has nothing in common with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14). Is celebrating a dark holiday something a child of the light should be doing?

o    I had been delivered from fear and panic attacks and knew that fear comes from the enemy. Should I participate in a holiday that has fear as its very foundation?

o    Witchcraft is clearly detestable to the Lord (Deut 18:10-13). Shouldn't something that glorifies witchcraft (just take a walk through the Halloween store) be detestable to me as well?"

o    Halloween is a sacred, high holiday for Wiccans (the official religion of witchcraft). Is this a holiday Christians should celebrate alongside Wiccans?

o    Is it cute when we dress our kids like the devil (or witches, ghouls, scary characters, etc.)? Isn't it, well, demonic?

o    What if my child dresses in a wholesome fireman costume? Romans 16:19 says that we need to be wise to what is good and innocent of evil. If I let him participate in Halloween, even while dressed as a fireman, aren't I sending him a mixed message by allowing him to participate in a celebration of evil?

o    The Lord said in 2 Cor. 6:17, "Come out from them and be separate ... Touch no unclean thing ..." Doesn't God want His children to be set apart from the world and from sin and evil? Aren't we supposed to be peculiar people?

o    My extended family thinks it's ridiculous that we not allow our son to dress up for Halloween. Should their opinions matter to me more than God's? Shouldn't pleasing God be my utmost concern?

o    If there is even a question in my heart and mind that it might be wrong, shouldn't that be my first clue? Why would I continue to do so with even a lingering thought that it is wrong?

o    Does Halloween bring glory to God? No! It glorifies the devil! Nuff said.

So as a new believer, saved only two years, I responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, repented of displeasing the Lord and put a stop to Halloween. And as a pastor, after observing firsthand the amount of destruction that the enemy brings into peoples' lives when they give him a foothold, I am even more convinced I made the right decision to close the door to the enemy and on this evil holiday.

Setting aside a day to celebrate evil, darkness, witchcraft, fear, death and the demonic brings disdain to God. Period. A Christian celebrating Halloween would be like a Satan worshiper putting up a nativity scene at Christmas while singing, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" The two just don't go together. Jesus has nothing in common with Satan (2 Cor. 6:14), and neither should we.

So, what did we do instead? Hide in the basement with the lights off? Hustle the family out of the house? No, darkened homes are the enemy's victory! Where does your light shine the brightest ... in the darkness!

Halloween is the one day a year when neighbors come to your door expecting to receive something. So give them JESUS! Our family chose to give God the glory and the devil a black eye by reaching out to our neighbors with the gospel of Jesus Christ! "You are the light of the world ... let your light shine among men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:14-16).

So stop justifying why it is fine to celebrate this demonic, worldly, evil holiday. There are no muddled lines or gray areas about it. A committed follower of Jesus Christ should not celebrate Halloween.

Jamie Morgan is the pastor of Life Church (Assemblies of God) in Williamstown, N.J., and the Life House of Prayer (24/7 prayer).

How to Avoid Getting Caught in Adultery

Like a premature unveiling of the picture of Dorian Gray, the hideous hypocrisy that lay discreetly stashed in the attic of AshleyMadison(dot)com’s online vault was unceremoniously exposed in 2015. 

This outing of 28 million male and 5 million female adulterers has made a lot of people hot under the lipstick stained collar. Furtive liaisons that “weren’t hurting anybody” have now left a swathe of casualties in their wake. And now that their trust in the sanctity of Internet privacy has been shattered, these poor philanderers and home wreckers have to grow used to the scarlet letter on their reputation, now that everybody knows who they really are. What could they have done differently to avoid getting caught?

There is only one way to not get caught in adultery: don’t commit adultery.

Hebrews 4:13  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

God’s observation of our lives has no blind spot.

But the Bible gives us practical wisdom on how to avoid committing adultery. Here are six suggestions from God’s word:

1.       Meditate on the immediate consequences of being caught

There is no cold shower as effective as the picture of an infuriated husband, with a gun, banging on your door.

Prov 6:34-35  For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge. He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

Besides the peril of homicidal cuckolded husbands there are many equally sobering consequences to dread. The pain of loss your dalliances will bring are incalculable. Imagine losing your spouse to divorce, your children’s respect, your ministry, your friends’ support, and your reputation. Let these thoughts linger alongside the fantasies lurking in your mind. They might just be the wax you need to mute the sirens’ song of temptation.

2.      Meditate on the eternal consequences of being caught

If you die before anyone hacks into your online world, you have not escaped the real consequence of your sin. As a believer our sins are all forgiven, but an unrepentant adulterer who never turns from his/her sin has no assurance that they are a child of God.

1 Cor 6:9  Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, … will inherit the kingdom of God.

A good dose of fire and brimstone imagery may do wonders for an untamed libido. When one confronts the desire for sin and faithlessness in one’s soul, that brings a decision point: repent of the sin or stop claiming to be a Christian.

3.      Believe that you will get caught

No one with an account at AshelyMadison thought they would be exposed. No one ever does. Of the millions of people who have been caught in adultery over the centuries, how many do you think believed they would be found out? And yet they all were. Even King David wasn’t immune to the illusion of a consequence-free affair. He was convinced he had covered-up his sin. Enter Nathan. The rest is history.

One way to avoid the temptation of adultery is to believe the inevitability of your sin leading to shame and heartache.

Prov 6:27-28  Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.

The only insurance against living with a guillotine blade of guilt hanging over your head is to have genuine integrity. There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.

Sir Conan Doyle had a penchant for practical jokes. He once purportedly sent letters to some friends with these alarming words: “All is discovered. Fly at once!” Almost all of them fled their hometowns in terror of being caught for the secret they assumed had now been revealed.

4.      Pursue your relationship with God

The reason Christians don’t sin is because they love Jesus and he hates sin. You have to realize that God sees everything you do online, everything you fantasize about, and every image your eyes dart toward when no one else is looking. And then you have to make a choice to please God.

Prov 5:20-21  Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths.

Job 31:1-2  I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

5.       Pursue your relationship with your spouse

Adultery, by definition, means at least one person involved is neglecting this wisdom.

Prov 5:18-19  Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.

1 Cor 7:5  Do not deprive one another [sexually], except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Enough said, right? 

6.      Avoid places/sites that tempt you

The frontline defense against adultery is fighting off temptation’s assault on the heart and mind way before it reaches the body. When a man falls into adultery, he never falls far. By the time you qualify as an adulterer under the dictionary’s definition, there have been unfaithful thoughts that germinated into unholy desires, that produced rotten fruit of adulterous non-verbal cues, followed by words, escalating into actions.

James 1:14-15  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Prov 5:8  Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.

Prov 6:25  Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.

Thankfully, the most damning verse for adulterers is followed by the most hopeful verse for all sinners;

1 Cor 6:9-11  … Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers…will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Whether or not your name was one of those unveiled by the internet hack, we all know that there is much we have done we could never excuse on judgment day. No one here is casting stones. Neither does Jesus. Repentance always begets forgiveness. Praise be to our Savior Jesus Christ that his blood was enough to wash us clean, and that the names of those who trust in him are written with indelible ink in the Lamb’s Book of Life, to be revealed to all on the last day.

Written by Clint Archer, pastor, Hillcrest Baptist Church