Sorry, it sounds good, but Jesus said that there is only one sin that can’t be forgiven—unforgivable, is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But the good news is, anything else, everything else, once repented of—turned away from, is forgivable.
And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Matthew 12:31,32
Jesus said that no one knows, not even he knew when he’d come back.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Matthew 24:36
“Date fixing,” predicting the day, month and year that Jesus will return, has caused much trouble—church splits, and has even given birth to wayward religions. Just be ready like the virgins in Jesus’ parable, waiting for the Bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13). Make sure your heart is right before God, that you are truly following Jesus’ teachings, which is what it takes to be his disciple (John 8:31,32), and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 4:17).
But people have been saying that at the turn of every century since the first one, whenever bad things happened (things have been very bad throughout the centuries), and at the turn of every century. And it didn’t happen. I started hearing this in the 1970’s and found that the idea made people fearful, nervous, unwilling to give themselves to the work of spreading the Kingdom of Heaven—they just wanted a one-way ticket off the earth. What makes our times any more “special” than any other generation’s, especially since our calendar is a fairly “new” one and a western way of counting the days and years? If a person really thinks that the end will come right away, they should be preaching the gospel day and night so that as many people can be saved as possible.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
James 1:5
This was John the Baptizer’s role, to turn people back to the wisdom of God.
And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Romans 11:33
Why would we want anything else?
The Bible makes clear distinctions between God’s wisdom and “worldly wisdom.” Worldly wisdom is “futile,” “foolishness in God’s sight,” and “unspiritual, demonic.” But wisdom from God is not only true but powerful, pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (1 Corinthians 3:19,20; James 3:17).
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:25
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 1 Corinthians 3:19,20
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. James 3:15-17
God offers everything we need; we don’t need to go looking for wisdom in all the wrong places. Jesus is The Truth. You can’t find better than him.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.John 14:6
Anything that is not from Jesus is not the Truth, so why would we want it?
Jesus never ever told anyone that it’s better for them to not be healed because it will make a better testimony. Rather, every person who came to him was healed, as well as many he sought out. It’s good to be patient in sickness, but so much better to receive the gift of God’s healing, which brings glory to God!
The Bible instructs us, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act (Proverbs 3:27). It was definitely within Jesus’ power to heal everyone—he did not withhold the good, he gave freely.
Jesus said,“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:7-11
When we ask for healing, he doesn’t say no, it’s better if you’re sick.
Yes, I know all too well that not everyone who asks God for healing is healed. I don’t know why—there are many dynamics in each case, but he doesn’t say that it makes for a better testimony. I recommend though, that people who have this question ask God rather than making up their own reasons or putting words into Jesus’ mouth.
The opposite was true. Jesus put his teachings into parables so that the people would not understand—to fulfill prophecy.
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
It’s been the “in thing” the last several years to despise the word religion, and define it differently than the Bible does, instead, defining it as man’s way of getting to God, as judgmentalism and formality. ButJames spoke of true religion as taking care of widows and orphans, and remaining unpolluted by the world (James 1:27). How can that be bad? Jesus cared very much about widows and orphans, about holiness—how can you have a relationship with a person and not care about what they care about? Religion isn’t bad—the problem is with false religion.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
At his trial, when Jesus was asked by the high priest if he was “the Son of the Blessed One,” he answered, “I am.”
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:61,62
When Jesus asked Peter who he said he was and Peter answered that Jesus was “the Son of the living God,” Jesus blessed him and said that he got that understanding from God, the Father in heaven.
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” Matthew 16:15-17
When Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God,” Jesus encouraged him as a believer (John 1:48-50).
Jesus further acknowledged that he had directly proclaimed, “I am God’s Son.”
…what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? John 10:36
“God Curses People Because of the Sins Their Parents and Grandparents Committed.”
The second commandment and several other passages in the Bible really do say that:
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, Exodus 20:5
But God in his mercy and grace didn’t leave us there! Even as far back as Ezekiel’s time, God stopped passing the blame through the generations!
“Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father? Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son.” Ezekiel 18:19-20
This entire chapter is clearly about individuals not bearing any guilt but their own—even in Ezekiel’s time. Then Jesus sealed it when he bore the curse of sin and death including the generational curse for us.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Galatians 3:13
Hallelujah! Jesus has already done it!!! We who follow Jesus are no longer under the Law! Each person is only responsible to repent for his or her own sins and Jesus’ death and resurrection have won us forgiveness! We don’t need any rituals to “break off” such curses; the New Testament never even suggests such a thing! Even in the Old Testament, God had Ezekiel rebuke the Israelites for saying such a thing.
Why in the world would a Christian ever choose any evil? God has clearly urged us to choose good and blessings over evil and cursing.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. Deuteronomy 30:19, 20
Followers of Jesus are to walk in the light of obeying his teachings—not giving into the devil. To conclude that one must “choose the lesser of two evils” is, in effect, to say, “Well, the devil has me backed into a corner and I have no way out so I have to do things his way.” God always provides a way out of every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:12-14). Followers of Jesus do not have to give in to the devil.
The “lesser of two evils” can sometimes even look good, as can a political candidate but Scripture warns that even the devil can appear as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Don’t be fooled—evil is always from and of the devil and should never be accepted by a follower of Jesus.
Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:44-46
If you choose evil, you’ll get evil.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:7-9
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:7,8
Urban Legends About God, the Bible & the Christian Life 