DIVINE "SHOCK AND AWE"

Most times I just sit down and write soon after I believe that God has given me something to say. Most times it flows like a river, and when it is finished, I begin the search for pictorial images that represent various parts of the message being discussed. The process has worked flawlessly for me during the 18 months I have been writing, but now we are going to study what God has to say, through the Apostle Paul about the SINS of ancient Rome. 

To be sure, I could have skipped the second half of Roman Chapter 1; and in fact, last night I passed it by like it did not exist...But alas, the sins of ancient Rome are exactly the same as the sins our world in 2013. This list is poignant and will hit you right between the eyes, so if you don't have the stomach for it I suggest you stop reading right now.

Here are the ground rules:

• The Word of God is incontrovertible.
• Paul was used by God to communicate and his words are the truth of God.
• His letter directly applies to the Jewish nation and the Gentiles of ALL nations, nationalities, colors, creeds, and religions including Agnostics and Atheists.

From Roman 1:18 to the end of the chapter Paul, under the auspices of "the wrath of God," details the SIN that has engulfed the Roman Empire. It's kind of like "shock and awe"biblically speaking. These verbal bombs can't help but grab your attention, and if you have a conscience, it will cause pain.

Enough with my introduction...Let's look at what was said:

• We suppress God's truth by our own wickedness.
• God's existence has been made plain to the entire human race, so they are without excuse.
• Despite God's attempts to make himself known, he remains virtually ignored. He is not worshipped despite the fact that we know he exists. 
• We exchanged the glory of God for idol worship of things that mankind has made.
• God turned his back on mankind, letting them give in to their sinful desires, all the while degrading themselves.
• We exchanged the Truth of God for a lie, worshipping created things instead of him.
• Women exchanged natural relations for unnatural.
• Men abandoned natural relations, and were fueled with a lust for one another.
• Since we did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind.

Now, if the preceding is not enough, Paul goes on to describe God's creation in graphic detail:

• We are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.
• We are gossips, slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful.
• They invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

There is more, but you get the picture. Before 100 AD, mankind, whether Jewish or Gentile was the same as mankind in 2013. We are closing in on 2,000 years since this was written, and if you did not know this came from Scripture, each of these could have been written today. HEREIN LIES THE MIRACLE OF THE WORD OF GOD! Scripture is timeless to mankind, because we think in terms of seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, decades, and centuries. Not only is it timeless within our understanding, it is also eternal in the vernacular of our Lord. 

Try to find one entry from Paul's listing that does not apply to you, me, your family, your friends, your country and the world. Next to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I know of no more important miracle, and yet we continue to commit those sins in all walks of life. We have been and continue to be tattooed in sin. The ink used, stains our soul more and more every day, so much so that it is barely recognizable by God. Try to take a tattoo off of your body. It is a bold undertaking, that requires patience and pain. The

vestige of that design usually remains forever, no matter what you do...

Your soul is being tattooed everyday of your life. Every time you substitute something for God, your get an ugly, black tattoo.

Every time you commit those sins above, your soul turns blacker and blacker to where it is barely recognizable by the Almighty. Only the blood of Christ removes each blot on your soul, leaving it not only with no hint of the sin, it is restored to the original pure white soul again that was given to you at birth. Amen.

Finally, I want to tackle the white elephant in the room, homosexuality. I have researched those passages in Roman 1:26 more than ever before. You know I look at multiple Bibles, and every book I could find on the internet to help me understand this volatile subject. I had the etymology of every important word or phase, so I could, for myself, see if the translations were faulty. They are not...So let's start with what I know from scripture:

• Homosexual acts are and have always been a sin; however no different from adultery, murder, slander, envy, etc. Sin is Sin. They are all probably not equal, but that's up to God. What we know is a homosexual sin can and will be forgiven and purged from your soul, just like all sin.
• God allowed homosexuality back to the beginning of our recorded time. It was a sin in the OT, just like it is in the NT.
• God says, as you can see above, that heterosexuality is "NATURAL" and that homosexuality is "UNNATURAL." This is the truth of God's word, despite what is being said online and in church's being taught today. 
• Furthermore, any misrepresentation, interpretation, or exposition of the Word to the contrary is false and just plain old fashioned heresy.

Despite what is the truth above, we must treat all of God's creation as children of God. If you know someone is gay or lesbian, understand that they moved their sin from the darkness into the light for all to see. That's a far cry better than the adultery and fornication that goes on all day, everywhere in supposed seclusion. Straight people are hiding their sin everyday, deluding themselves that their sin is any different from a homosexual. Sexual sin is and always will be sexual sin, no matter how many ways you try to justify it to yourself, your friends and your God. Sex is the single biggest and easiest way to block the blessings of God. 

If you are seething at these, my words, please remember that the Apostle Paul and God himself were abundantly clear. At the same time their is no room for the judgement or condemnation of a homosexual than any adulterer or fornicator. Your personal sin may not be in the area of sexuality, but you have sin in your life, every day. Christians and believers all over the world are sinful every day. We constantly need cleansing from our Lord and Saviour. Every sin in the OT from God's anointed Kings had to be expunged by God according to the law. Depraved minds have been around for a long time, and they will continue, so long as we ignore the plain, straight up teaching of the word of God. 

Join me in breaking the cycle of your individual sin(s). I know I have several that need expunged immediately.

Thanks for reading and may God add his blessing...

THE DIGITAL DISCIPLE