We are living
in an increasingly sinful society which makes it habit of breaking every godly
moral. It is no wonder it is a society of broken marriages and relationships
which produces wounded and broken people, who in turn continue the cycle of
producing more damaged people. We can see them all around us, outside and
inside the church. The homosexual lifestyle and gay marriage has now been
widely accepted in this society as the norm. This society thinks it is foolishness
to acknowledge God and thinks it knows it all better than its Creator, and
because of this, God has abandoned this society to its shameful desires and
foolish thinking;
That is why
God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against
the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And
the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust
for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of
this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
Since they
thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish
thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives
became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder,
quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers,
haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning,
and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their
promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires
that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse
yet, they encourage others to do them, too. Romans 1:26-32 NLT
This is also a
sign that we are living in the last days before the return of the Son of Man,
Jesus Christ, who said it will be just like in the days of Noah and the days of
Lot who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that were filled with immorality
and every kind of sexual perversion, including homosexuality.
When
the Son of Man returns, it will be like it
was in Noah’s day. In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and
weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and
destroyed them all.
And the
world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily
business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— until
the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from
heaven and destroyed them all. Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to
the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Luke 17:26-30
NLT
Furthermore,
the Bible says that we should know that in the last days there will be very
difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money.
They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents,
and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and
unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be
cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be
puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act
religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away
from people like that!
They are the
kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of
vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by
various desires. (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are
never able to understand the truth.) These teachers oppose the truth just as
Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit
faith. But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will
recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres. (2. Timothy
3:6-9 NLT)
Now
the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away
from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come
from demons. These people are hypocrites and
liars, and their consciences are dead. 1. Timothy 4:1-2 NLT
For
a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome
teaching. They will follow their own
desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching
ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. 2. Timothy
4:3-4 NLT
This is
happening left and right in the Christian Church, where greedy prosperity
teachers and pastors are deceiving millions by making them chase after the myth
of becoming wealthy if they only sow financial seeds and faithfully pay tithes
to their churches and ministries. These prosperity teachers are the source of
the wounding, financially wrecking, and breaking of countless lives through
their false teachings and the fleecing of the flock.
Also, many
false teachers in the church nowadays tell the people the myth that God gave
them the freedom to do whatever they feel and want, and that everyone will go
to heaven because God is graceful and will not send anybody to hell.
But the Bible
clearly states that as a Christian believer you are called to live in freedom from sin, and not using your freedom to
do what you want or to satisfy your sinful nature.
For you have
been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your
freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Galatians 5:13 NLT
The abundance
of the sinful nature is what is being displayed on every level in this
society, which includes: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures,
idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish
ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins
like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that
sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT)
Whether you
call yourself a Christian or not, anybody who is living the above mentioned
lifestyle will not go to Heaven, but will go to Hell!
Jesus made it
unequivocally clear that there is a hell when He said this:
So if your
hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to
enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into
eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to
sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with
only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Matthew 18:8-9 NLT
The devil, who
is the master of wounding and damaging people, is working hard in these last
days stealing and killing and destroying this society (see John 10:10), making
it believe and say that evil is good and good is evil. (See
Isaiah 5:20)
But Jesus
Christ who shed his blood and died for our sins on the cross and rose from the
dead, is still going around doing good and seeking to heal all who are
oppressed, wounded, and broken by the devil in this sinful society! (See Acts
10:38)
The
message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But
we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
So where does this leave the
philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made
the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that
the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish
preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for
signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So
when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the
Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation,
both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness
is stronger than the greatest of human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
NLT
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