“Thou art the man.”  (The Prophet Nathan to King David)

 

David was guilty of faithlessness at times, adultery, and murder. King Mannaseh sacrificed children to the god, Molech (an outdoor fireplace). Moses was guilty of murder, and taking God’s glory unto himself. Peter was guilty of denying Christ, not once but thrice. Paul was a persecutor of early Christ-ians. Rahab was an harlot, Matthew was a tax collector, some saw as a traitor to his people. Mary Magdalene was an harlot.  The Holy Spirit never hides the sins of His chosen in Holy Writ.  Why is this? Wouldn’t the saints mentioned above seem greater if their warts were hidden? They certainly would or would they and is that the point?

Man looking good was never the point of Scripture but their abasing was and is.  The point of Scripture revealing the saint’s sins, gross as they were, was to demonstrate the greatness of God’s grace and mercy. The worse a sinner was, the greater is God’s grace exalted. The greater the sinner, the greater the saint!!! The more one has been forgiven, the more one will love Christ. These are Scriptural principles.

This principle is also seen in the filling up of the sin cup. The Lord allows the sinner, that will be made saint, to fill up his sin cup so that when God forgives that sinner with a full cup of sin, God and His Grace is all the more Glorified.  On the other hand, when God allows the filthy that shall remain filthy to fill up his sin cup to overflowing, God’s wrath and fury shall be glorified in the sight of His saints and all the filthy will be awe-struck and speechless, having lost all strength, they will fall to their knees and by this they shall confess and acknowledge Christ to be King of kings and Lord of lords.

This will never be said of the current or contemporary church. We will never allow our warts to be seen if we can help it. In today’s church, in some circles, some will not allow others to know they are movie goers!!!  Some, who are social drinkers, would drop dead if others knew they sipped wine!!! Some women would faint if others saw them in pants!!! God forbid that others knew the television shows that are being watched.

Why is this?  In the negative, our old nature would cause us and others to judge these warts. For a positive reason, we never want to cause others to stumble over our freedoms, if these others are among the weaker, less mature, or younger converts.

Sometimes, if wisdom prompts us, it may be helpful to others to allow our warts to show. But wisdom should also tell you when to keep some things to thyself, as Paul said, “Have thy faith to thyself.”  By this Paul means to enjoy your liberties quietly, keep them between you and God and maybe a few others that would understand.

Some examples:  There is no greater sins in the eyes of the church (of the church, not God’s. In God’s eyes, sin is sin.)  than divorce and homosexuality.  Yet if a person is outted as divorced, even though they remain unmarried, they are second class Christ-ians. By the way, why must divorcees remain unmarried?  God is clear, if a divorcee remarries, that person shall be considered an adulterer.  Why is this? This is because, no piece of paper, no judge or court can put asunder what God has joined together.
In other words, though society may see a marriage dissolved, God does not.  Though society sees a divorcee free to move on and remarry, God does not.  He will consider the divorcee and the new spouse as living a life of adultery.
Even if the above was not true, depending upon the timliness of the remarriage everyone will believe that the new spouse was the reason for the divorce to begin with, making the divorcee an adulterer in the eyes of the community. God sees divorce as the mutilation of a body made in His image as in “they two shall be one.”  Also, marriage is a picture of Christ’s love for His bride, the church. So when a man cheats, it suggests Christ cannot be trusted. If the woman cheats, it is seen as the bride whoring herself out. This is how God sees divorce and why He hates it so much.  Not to mention divorce is a broken promise to many on many different levels.

While it it true, homosexuality is sin, there is no doubting…there is no debate needed. On the other hand, one must differentiate between the act of homosexual sex or the gay lifestyle and homophilia, same sex attraction, and even the eunuch.  There are many men and women that are attracted to the same sex, but beloved, this is not sin…let me say it again, this is NOT sin.  The homophile is born with this inclination, there can be no doubt.  And again, this IS NOT sin.
The sin is when a homophile crosses the line and acts upon these inclinations, becoming a homosexual or in Biblical language, a sodomite.  God, in Isaiah 56, speaks of the eunuch, a eunuch is a man who had his penis removed in order to serve royalty.  Although the homophile does not remove his penis, it is made useless, save urination, and while the homophile remains celibut, should not a homophile be considered a eunuch? In Isaiah 56, God says, that the eunuch will receive a very high place in His kingdom, a place higher than most others!!!

Should we be protective of our warts? Again, wisdom must prevail.  We met a man that was a (s)atanist and pretended to be a Christ-ian at a street mission, he did this so that he could sell drugs to those seeking help and refuge at the mission. Praise be to God this man was saved and became a member to the body of Christ.  This man uses his history as a testimony to the grace of God.

We knew a person who knew a couple that would confess to each other when they looked at a member of the opposite sex and thought bad thoughts.  This may sound pure and right, but it is utter folly.  Everyone knows that everyone notices beauty in a member of the opposite sex, it needs not be brought up.  Don’t tell her I told you so, but my wife thinks a certain movie actor is good looking. I know this and after (21) twenty one years of faithful marriage have no problem with it. However, I would rather her not breathe heavy and fan herself whenever she sees him….and she doesn’t. My wife also knows that i think certain actresses are attractive and she is fine with that, but I do not go into detail on why I think them attractive.  Do you understand?  Sometimes one may share something and sometimes one definitely should not.

To make a point: Some Christ-ians will read what I wrote above and laugh and maybe think, “I know what he’s talking about.”  While other Christ-ians may have read it and been offended and thought us sinful for thinking these things, much less admitting to them…they would even charge us with glorifying our sin. To be true, these who would judge us thusly, are also the type that are currently in jail for having an affair with an under-aged girl and another is in jail for fondling little girls in dresses and skirts.  One is made to wonder, did they preach modesty, ie. no pants on women, because they had a Biblical conviction or did it make it easier to fondle young girls in dresses and skirts?

I also know Christ-ians that would think it very bad that I own all (7) seven seasons of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on DVD but would still love me none the less.  I know that someone has called a shelf in my home a “Shrine to Sherlock Holmes.”  Yet I am not a stumbling block to this person. We have had in the past (we wrote upon this before) men come and visit us from a nearby Pharisaical Baptist church.  One of the men, not both, but one of the men gave my living room the once over and came to a judgement before even sitting down and speaking with us.  You might ask if any of the above in this paragraph hurts our feeling or angers us.  We would reply, “Not in the least.”  Reader, when you know who you are in Christ and that Christ has made you a complete(d) being, nothing else matters. The slanders, the lies, the disapproval, and the judgements of others mean, in the language of Scripture, “less than nothing.”  All the talk is like little grasshoppers, chirping us to a peace-filled rest. I can say this because I know God and God knows me.

Godspeed.

P.S. The difference between wisdom and prudence is this, wisdom is useful in the here and the now, prudence looks to the future. The reason we wrote about the difference between wisdom and prudence is this, Consider the future ramifications before you show your warts. Consider the feelings of others before you “purify” yourself.  It is said, “See something say something.”  that phrase is in regards to terror and violence.  Sometimes, in order to keep peace and happiness in a family one should “see nothing say nothing.”

And again, Godspeed.