My dear Faith, attired in pink night clothes, laid sleeping as I kissed her and lit a candle to go check on the House of God. As I turned the rusty doorknob, rusted of course by those hands dripping wet from the baptisms they had received, a breeze blew out the last little flicker of my light. Yet, the moon gave slightly enough illumination as to allow a small glimpse into the House.
Stumbling in the dark, I heard laughter turn into a smoker’s wheezy cough as a group of overseers sat in the back pew telling off color jokes. Near the front the moon reflected the faces of some young girls who had been with child but yet they sat childless. Then I heard a familiar voice. It was my old friend. Thank God, a person I know! The very person who had told me so much about the Way. He sat with guitar in hand singing dirges in the dark to a group of unwed girls he had came to know. Then my eyes beheld the pulpit. Moonlight danced off spider webs that had been made in the baptistery pool. The priestess O’Hare was marrying two men – one who had left his wife and children, for the love of the other who had recently been acquitted from law stripped by the courts.
At that moment, while my hand reached for the light switch, I heard the voice of my dear friend Hope. Hope was calling my name. My thoughts returned to my Love. As I turned the light on the only face I saw in the mirror was my own. Could these images be the things I harbor in my heart for the House of the Lord? Is that what I have helped allow the House of God to become?
The House of God isn’t a fancy building sitting on choice real estate. The House of God is built in the hearts of men. Today the House of God is threatened by the hearts of men. Our Lord spoke of these things through the prophet Isaiah when he said, “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men” (Isaiah 29:13). Man has drifted from the teachings of God, and now takes up the positions of man.
Many God preaching Christians have taken up the position that abortion, the killing of the unborn child, is not murder. Against the plain teachings of the Lord, “You Shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). Forgetting the teachings of the Lord in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed,” we have allowed the legalized murder of the image of God.
In the 1960’s it was decided that God was no longer welcomed in our schools. This was done in spite of the fact that Jesus said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). The “little ones” are no longer taught abstinence; they are given condoms and pills and instructed in how to use them. Totally disregarding the teachings we have, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
We have forsaken the morality taught us by the Word. Instead, we have allowed world leaders to define such things as “adultery,” “fornication,” and even when life becomes human. Homosexuality is no longer hidden in the dark corners of life; it is mainstream. Ordination of the sodomite has become a reality in spite of the teachings of the Lord. “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination” (Leviticus 20:13). Putting a homosexual in charge to lead others to salvation knowing that, “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (Romans 6:9-10).
The fire that the was once had for God, has been mixed with the coldness of the world, making us “lukewarm.” Are we ready to become like the church of the Laodiceans? Are we ready for God to “vomit [us] out of [His] mouth?” (Revelation 3:18).
These things that could easily qualify as abominations that lead to desolation do not have to be. We have the Way before us, the Word of God. Just because man’s laws say abortion, or any abomination for that matter is legal, doesn’t mean we, as Christians, have to approve of it and live by that law. We have the perfect law of Liberty. Second Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
We have to delight “in the law of the Lord, And in His law meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2). In so doing, ” He shall strengthen your heart” (Psalm 27:14). Unlike the laws of man, which change to fit each passing whim, the laws of God are unchanged through the centuries. The Psalmist wrote, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:11). The same Word we came to accept is the same Word we are to live by. Our Savior does not change when the opinions of society seem to change. As the writer of Hebrews stated so plainly, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
We have within our grasp the power to “clean” the House of God. Our hearts have to follow the teachings we came to accept, “even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8), not the ones made by man. We have to follow the advice that was given to the church in Ephesus, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (Revelation 2:5). There are people who change the Words of God to fit their own lifestyles, “from such people turn away” (2 Timothy 2:5). We have to “turn away from evil and do good” (1 Peter 3:11) because “the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:12).
The House of God will be cleaned when we turn our hearts away from the world and back to Jesus, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness” (Romans 10:10). It’s up to us.
Until next time May The Good Lord Bless And Keep You: All Y’all!
Bobby Cohoon
North Carolina, USA
bobby@bobbycohoon.com
Everyone is familiar with the old saying, “only two things are certain in life: death and taxes.” And, I guess we all know the consequences of not paying taxes. But, what happens to us at death? Is there a difference for a Christian as opposed to a non-Christian at death? There are probably as many theories as to what happens at death as there are people waiting to die.
To most people he was not even noticed as he stood in the dark. His dark weathered skin not showing up even with the distant lights. But, the cracked red lips that have been in the weather for years stood out. Most passersby didn’t notice him at all, nor had they for the years he had been there. Some noticed and saw the scum of the earth. They saw a no count lazy homeless black man if they saw anything at all. But I saw something different. I saw the cracked lips of someone in need. I saw the savior sitting at the well needing a drink of water.
That has become the battle cry of America: Bailout. I have personally never seen times this bad. There are no job, no money, no nothing. I mean it is so bad that Paula Deen is using government cheese in her recipes. The Big Three Auto makers are crying for a bailout. AIG is on the skids. Homes are being foreclosed on at alarming rates daily. And, if the banks have any money they aren’t lending! Everyone is turning to the government for help. But there is one bailout plan that a lot of people seem to be missing. God offers us the security that no government could ever offer.
said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). The room is already prepared for us. Paul wrote in his second surviving letter to the church in Corinth, “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1). There are no foreclosure signs in Heaven!
It’s hard to look at the picture and tell if it is the beginning of spring or the ending of fall. I mean the trees are bare and there are leaves all over the ground. The only trees that are green are the pines and they stay green regardless of the season. So to be sure which season it is you would just have to be there when the picture was taken. Many of us are like that picture in our Christian walks; it is hard to tell what part of their Christian journey they are in, or even if they are in a Christian journey!
The guitar is probably the most versatile instrument ever invented. Think about it is involved in almost every type of music known. It can play soft and sweet and with the next strum play hard and heavy. It can and does invoke a full range of emotions with just six strings. Have you ever noticed how similar the guitar strings are to the life Christ led and the one we are to lead?
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