When God speaks to men He does so with power. Man may speak from a temporary place of power or authority but he has only limited ability to see it come to pass. When God speaks, he has no limitations, all comes to pass just as He said. There is power in the Word of God that is beyond all human Words. 

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son…
Hebrews 1:1
On December 8, 1941 radio stations around the world broadcast President Roosevelt’s speech to the United States Congress. Most of the world had been at war for over two years but the United States had maintained a quasi-neutral status. However, on December 7, 1941 the United States was bombed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor in a Sunday morning surprise attack. What would Roosevelt say to the American people and their congress reeling from the loss of thousands of sailors? What would he say to the watching world? Roosevelt closed his speech with these words, “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.” Congress acted, the sleeping giant was awakened, and the destruction of the second world war marched forward in ever increasing violence and destruction.
We understand something of the power of words. World leaders demonstrate the power behind their position by speaking, ordering, and directing. Parents demonstrate the same thing with their children. The Lord instituted this authority in parents and reminds children of it by telling them to honor their father and their mother and to obey them. Regarding government leaders He says, “let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.”
We also understand the limitations and weakness of words. How often when a politician speaks do you think, “just politics as usual…” or, “that person is all talk and no action,” or “she is all bark and no bite.” Martin Lloyd Jones said of some ministers he was critiquing, “their sermons were full of fire but no light.”
Unless the US Congress complied with Roosevelt’s request and the people with Congress’ declaration, the state of war would be meaningless. Unless children obey their parents it can seem the parent’s words fall on deaf ears. We can sometimes give too much credit to man’s words forgetting “the kings heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water He turns it (Proverbs 21:1).”  Perhaps because of the limitations with men’s words we can make the error at times of thinking those limits exist in God’s Word. God’s Word however is not limited like man’s word.
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The highways of sin and worldliness lead always and only to destruction. But now life has been revealed and offered, exclusively through the Savior who died on the cross and rose the third day in order that His children might live. It is a message that demands a whole new life, a new birth, new allegiance, everything becomes new! It is the message of God unto salvation for such as are being saved! The foolish virgins liked the sound of it, they may have even known it was true, but they loved the world more and thought they would have time later to get right with the Lord.

Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them…
Matthew 25:3

Country music singer Kenny Chesney begins his song “Everybody Wants to go to Heaven” with these lyrics:
Preacher told me last Sunday morningSon, you better start living rightYou need to quit the women and whiskeyAnd carrying on all night
Don’t you wanna hear him call your nameWhen you’re standing at the pearly gatesI told the preacher, “Yes I do”But I hope they don’t call todayI ain’t ready
Everybody wants to go to heavenHave a mansion high above the cloudsEverybody want to go to heavenBut nobody want to go now
Kenny Chesney, Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven
Chesney highlights the attitude of the foolish virgins rather well in his song. The foolish virgins were in the kingdom. They were in church. They heard the word proclaimed. They heard of the glory that awaits God’s people in Heaven with Christ. And their response was, “Not Yet!” “I am having too much fun following my own pleasures on Earth. Perhaps later I will get right with the Lord. After all I want to go to Heaven… just not yet.” The foolish virgins thought they would have time later. Instead, the day and hour of salvation came and they passed it by. At midnight a cry was heard: Behold the Bridegroom is coming!
Looking at the modern church, it is easy to wonder if there are many foolish virgins today partly because of a lack of power, presentation, and persistence to the Gospel call. Is the call of the gospel an urgent matter in our churches? Perhaps we see so few new conversions in our churches because we are not pressing the matter home. Do the foolish virgins consider temporary pleasures to be of value because the Gospel trumpet is barely sounding?
All around us the world is dying. For those with no interest in Christ, the fires of hell are drawing nearer. The eternal punishment of sinners in that place of dreadful and endless torment is closer than it was yesterday. Diseases seem to be multiplying.
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God is not mocked and will not be mocked. Those faking Christianity will be made known to all the world when the Lord returns. Do not be cast into the lake of fire at that great day of the Lord but in this salvation hour, while the gospel trumpet still sounds, repent of your sins, and cry out to the merciful God. He will have mercy!

Since the earliest days of the church there have been those who desire to look like Christians but in their hearts have no faith in Jesus Christ.
We may not know all the reasons that Judas followed the Lord for three years before betraying him and committing suicide but clearly he wanted to look like a true disciple of Christ (Matthew 27:3-5). Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-25) desired to look like a Christian because he desired the power that the apostles possessed by the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, Saul wanted to look properly religious by offering sacrifices but he would not obey the Lord. Israel would often practice syncretism, blending the worship of God with the worship of idols. Some have come into the church for the sole purpose of deceiving with an appearance only Christianity (Matthew 24:24). Paul makes a case for the Corinthians to, “have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart” (II Cor. 5:12b).
Through Christ’s teaching on the foolish virgins, He is highlighting that in the kingdom of Heaven there are those who look just like the wise virgins but have not been born again of the Spirit. Their outward lives may have looked at times like the lives of wise virgins. They sometimes behaved like the wise virgins. Perhaps from human vantage points the foolish virgins were even thought of as wise virgins. But when the Lord returned they were revealed to be who they truly were, foolish virgins with no part in the Bridegroom and no place at the marriage supper of the lamb.
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Do not ignore the voice of the Lord who commands His people to obey Him. Rather, rejoice at the mercy of God who tells us to obey, how to obey, then gives us a new birth and new life that we might be able to obey!

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Matthew 25:13 NKJV
What do you think of the word, “obey?” We have hymns where we sing of it, “Trust and Obey!” We have blessings promised by God when we obey, “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God… (Deut. 28:2)” The Lord delights in obedience, “Has the LORD As great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice (I Samuel 15:22). Jesus tells us if we love Him we are to keep (obey) His commandments (John 14:15). A fiery vengeance is coming on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:8).
It is evident that obedience is an important, even essential element of the Christian life. For whoever will not heed God’s command to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ will surely perish in hell fire for all eternity. And yet, it seems sometimes in some places that Christians shy away from the word and concept of obedience because they are afraid of being considered legalistic or preaching works based salvation. If obedience is used, it seems almost with apology. Grace grace some cry but often without or to the expense of the great commission of Jesus, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…
The “therapeutic theology” movement has in many places so effectively replaced the righteous Law of God that the idea of obeying God can be condemned as legalistic or abusive terminology which must be dismissed out of hand. The adulterer is surmised to have a mental issue. The drunkard is said to have substance issues requiring counseling. The man who hits his wife has a temperament disorder. The woman who considers murdering her child or follows through with murdering her child is considered a victim in need first and foremost of sympathy. The fourth commandment is used for comic relief. The ten commandments are referred to as “bad news”. The list could go on.
And yet, God does not avoid this word “obey” but rather  calls all men in all places to obey Him at all times. He even wrote His commandments for us so that we might know how to obey Him and commit His commandments to memory. God who told Saul that He desires obedience more than sacrifice, still desires the same from us today. He who said, “if you love me, keep my commandments,” still means what He said. When will preacher bring these words again to the ears of the people – You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. Obey God and it will go well with you! Disobey God and it will go poorly for you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will surely be saved. Disobey and deny Christ and you will surely perish. It is the message throughout Scripture. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ leads the born again sinner to a life no longer of lawlessness but a life of obedience. Therefore Christian, obey the Lord!
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While warning the world of sin and judgment, the Lord in His infinite mercy and grace does not leave you with the pronouncement of death for all your perversions. Yes, He tells you that by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight (Romans 3:20). Yes, He says sodomites and homosexuals and boasters in the flesh and haters of God will not inherit eternal life. But He does not stop there. That is where we in our sin – apart from Christ. But then the glory is revealed. But now… You, who cannot find life or salvation on your own, have this glorious message revealed, life and salvation come to you. By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight… But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. Romans 3:20-22 NKJV

Do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before He causes darkness.
Jeremiah 13:15-16 NKJV
More than 2,000 years ago a king named Herod made a speech at the occasion of a peace treaty. Those that heard him speak said that his voice was that of a god and not of a man. Rather than giving glory to God, King Herod took the praise for himself. In his pride, an angel of the Lord struck him, and he was eaten by worms and died (Acts 12:20-24).
Pride – a great sin among the nations throughout history is a sin that afflicts us today. Pride was involved when Eve in the garden listened to the serpent and gave the fruit to Adam so that he sinned against God. (Genesis 3:1-19). With all our advances in technology and understanding of the creation, we have not humbled ourselves before the Creator who is blessed forever, but we worship and serve the creature who is passing away.
Sodom, that infamous city of Canaan was notorious for its sin of pride. She was a city full of wealth, idleness, and in her pride she committed abominations before God. Therefore, God took her away through fire and brimstone from Heaven (Ezekiel 16:49-50).
Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, the conqueror of Judah, the destroyer of Egypt, was full of pride. When he was repented, he made this confession of God, His “works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down” (Daniel 4:37).
Nebuchadnezzar’s son repeated his father’s sin. Full of pride, relishing in his wives, treasures, and friends, the Lord brought the Medes and the Persians into Babylon and destroyed Belshazzar and his kingdom in a single night. For the Lord said, you have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting (Daniel 6:27). For [Babylon] has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel…the most proud shall stumble and fall… I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all around him” (Jeremiah 50:29-32).
The empires of the ancient world, from the Greeks and Carthaginians to the Romans whose emperors were supposed to be gods, all were full of pride and were destroyed. Modern history is much the same. The 1,000-year Reich of Nazi Germany lasted less than 15 years. The glory of Mussolini’s Italy ended with his body defiled. All the proud have been brought low by the God they denied, while His Word which they hated has endured.
God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble
James 4:6
Many major cities around the world celebrates the great evil of pride. Rather than confessing we are but men who are here for a moment and perish, they act like they will live forever, delighting in evil, and condemning good. And yet the Lord cries out a warning that the day of the LORD of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up – and it shall be brought low (Isaiah 2:12).
The world’s prophets tell you not to worry about pride, rather, celebrate it. Your friends and family members celebrate your pride with you. Though all the world join with you in pride, the Lord will still be against you. For this reason, we do not come to you today telling you Peace, Peace when there is no peace and you are on the path to destruction. Rather, we come to you crying Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand!
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud
Proverbs 15:25
The matter of destruction ought to possess your greatest attention. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah in one night were destroyed by God with fire and brimstone. The judgment of the Lord is coming again and is being revealed now as a warning to the living. Death has come and is coming upon you and all people, for all have sinned (Romans 5:12).
The judgment that is coming on the proud is a place of great terror and torment. It is the place Jesus refers to as Hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44).
We plead with you… Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19).
The Bible on PRIDE
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.
Mark 7:21-23 NKJV
Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before He causes darkness.
Jeremiah 13:15-16 NKJV
The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure.
Psalm 101:5 NKJV
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18 NKJV
When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2 NKJV
A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.
Proverbs 29:23 NKJV
These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood.
Proverbs 6:16-17 NKJV
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.
Proverbs 8:13 NKJV
For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
I John 2:16-17 NKJV
Homosexuality: God Gave Them Up
What is good? You are living in a time where the answer to that question is generally, “whatever you say it is.” When it comes to a mother murdering her child, the world tells her, “Your choice is the right choice,” and “Your body your choice.” When it comes to sexuality and identity the world tells you, “You are how you feel” and “love is love.”
A problem with these slogans is that the underlying truth they present is “you” and you are always changing. Therefore, what is good is not stable but is constantly in motion, always changing, never certain, and will eventually die.
God who is good has not left you to determine good according to your own ideas but has rather shown you, O man, what is good: And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).
If you love God, you will humble yourself before Him and seek to keep His commandments. If you hate God you will walk in pride, not only sinning against God but approving of those who do the same (Romans 1:32).
You know God today because you are made in His image. But do you glorify God as God? For much of the world the answer is “no.” Professing themselves to be wise, the world has exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man and worshipped the creature instead of the Creator who is blessed forever, Amen.
For this reason, exchanging the truth of God for a lie, God said He gave them up to vile passions, men and women practicing homosexuality, given over to pride, haters of God, and similar sins.
These acts, activities, and lifestyles that you may engage in or celebrate as an ally are perverted pursuits. The word perverted is not meant as a slur but rather a statement meaning to turn aside or away from what is good and morally right.
Leaving what is good, that which is from God, you have become perverted in your ways. God refers to this perversion as a reprobate mind and is His judgment against a wicked people.
In similar manner God speaks concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. It is from Sodom of course that the name “sodomite” and “sodomy” are derived. Of these cities, God said, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 1:7).
Sodom and Gomorrah gave themselves over to sin and God gave them up to their sin. This is the reality of homosexuality and LGBTQ+ culture, God has given over to perversion those who have given themselves over to sin.
It is not the goal of this short pamphlet to convince you of your sin and misery in this perverted and sinful condition. Rather, this condition is known to you. Those who were in homosexuality before you and have been born again of the Spirit and saved by the blood of the Lamb of God have had this testimony – that they heard the Word of God from faithful witnesses and knew their own sin but for some time, perhaps years, they suppressed the truth, crying out louder against it and blocking their ears from it until God by His Word and Spirit convinced them of their sin and misery enlightened their minds to the knowledge of Christ and renewed their wills so that they could  embrace Jesus Christ who is freely offered to us in the Gospel.
The arm of the Lord is stretched out today toward you sinner by His Word. He has shown you what is good. Will you listen to Him who is good, hear the call of God today, and heed His call?
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Saving Faith receives the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation and it rests in Him alone for salvation. He who has saving faith is satisfied with Christ and looks nowhere else for the way of everlasting life. Saving faith does not look to Mary or Paul or any other Christian now living or that ever has lived. Saving faith is built on nothing less and nothing else than Jesus blood and righteousness. When the bridegroom came and the virgins were called to the feast the wise virgins did not rise in shame or in fear, they rose in faith and eagerly went to the marriage feast of the lamb.

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise…
Matthew 25:1-2 NKJV
Have you considered what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ? The word faith appears more than 200 times in the authorized version of the Bible and yet it is a word that is regularly misunderstood.
The 86th question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks this question: What is faith in Jesus Christ? If one cannot be saved without faith in Jesus Christ, surely every Christian will always have this answer in his heart. The Bible’s answer, summarized in the answer to question 86 is:
Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered to us in the gospel.
The wise virgins knew something of Jesus Christ. They knew something of His Word and His gospel. Faith begins with knowledge, with understanding. We cannot believe in Him whom we do not know. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God… The catechism addresses this aspect of faith at the conclusion of the answer even though logically it comes first. Faith comes first by hearing and therefore knowing the Word of God. But faith does not end with knowledge… even the demons have a knowledge of God.
The wise virgins went further than knowledge in their faith and so must we. They also received the Lord Jesus Christ as He is offered in the Scripture. They agreed with, believed, or assented to the Word of God concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. They didn’t just know of Him through hearing, they cried out like Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of living God”.
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As Scripture presents promise after promise, fulfillment after fulfillment, glory after glory, the Christian rejoices, delights, and takes strength from the Word of the Lord concerning the one who came to Earth and the one who is coming again. He rejoices in it because He believes God. He rejoices in the Word of the Lord because He believes in the Lord of the Word.

Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise…
Matthew 25:1-2 NKJV
When God called Moses to meet with Him on Mt. Sinai, He told Moses to bring Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 elders. They went up, saw the Lord, and lived. They even went so far as to eat and drank in the presence of God. Nevertheless, Nadab and Abihu perished in their sin. Even though that one day on the mountain they saw God and lived they were not saved. Why?
The Lord Jesus Christ in the week of his betrayal told many great things to his twelve disciples. He had told them that He Himself was the way the truth and life. He told them that if they had seen Him then they had seen the Father. He told them He was leaving them to prepare a mansion in Heaven for them. When the night of His betrayal came after three years of ministry, miracles, signs, wonders, and preaching, eleven of the twelve would be saved, one would betray Jesus. Why?
Both the wise and the unwise virgins in Christ’s parable had been sitting in the church under the preaching of the word.
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Christians must live in the light of the imminent return of the bridegroom. If we think our Savior delays, we are prone to grow weary in waiting and begin to fall into sin. The temptation will arise, “if the bridegroom has waited 2,000 years surely He will wait until at least tomorrow or next week… maybe even next year.” Giving in to this temptation, forgetting the rich man of Luke 12, we begin thinking little of sin and the lusts of this world. Taking our eyes off Him who reigns above we set our eyes longingly and lustfully upon the things of the world that are so quickly perishing.

Too many Christians, when they have been long in profession, grow remiss in their preparations for Christ’s second coming…
Matthew Henry
How many years did Noah take building the ark and preaching the righteousness of God? Some have suggested as short as 50 years and others as long as 120 years. In all those years of building the ark and preaching, no one listened to Noah save his sons, their wives, and Noah’s wife.
A Neighbor of Noah
Consider what it might have been like for a young boy living near to Noah and his family. This boy’s earliest memories were with his friends and family laughing at that babbler Noah, his preaching, and his silly ark. That ark was never going to be built. That day of destruction Noah kept talking about was never going to come. As the boy grew he eventually got married. Passing Noah’s land with his new bride, the hull of that ark was barely completed but the preacher was still going strong. After many children, that young man was not so young anymore. His children were getting married, divorced, remarried, and they were having children of their own. That young man filled with strength changed into an older man with the pains and frailties of age. All around him everything was changing except this, Noah was still preaching, and that ark was getting larger and taller.
Finally, too old to do much work that old man liked to take walks to get away from all the turmoil at home. He would complain to himself of his short and bleak life. He remembered the wasted years of his youth and how he wanted them again.  One day while walking, he passed by Noah’s land with some special words prepared for that madman. Approaching Noah’s property, the old man noticed something was very different – things were taking place that had never happened before. Animals from all over were coming two by two and seven by seven, as if guided by a shepherd, and walked right into the ark. But there was more… the old man noticed for the first time in all his life, he couldn’t hear Noah’s preaching. Looking for Noah, he saw him in the distance walking into the ark with his wife, his three sons, and their wives. Suddenly, without Noah closing it, the door of the ark was shut!
The old man quickly turned for home to tell his family what he had seen. As he went it started to rain. The drops started large and quickly grew into torrents. Water seemed to be coming from everywhere. The old man could not get home for the rains came too quickly. He was struggling to stay on his feet, so he wrapped his arms around a tree for support. He was not able to warn his wife of many years. He could not hug his pregnant granddaughter or shake his son’s hand one last time. He saw his friends, filled with merry hearts that morning, swept away by the water near him. In their eyes he saw terror and fear that he had never seen before.
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The effect of Christ return is the praise of His grace in saving some to everlasting life and it is for the praise of His justice in bringing to judgment all His and our enemies. In this way, the revelation of God’s grace, mercy, and justice, will be revealed at the day of judgment all for the praise and glory of God!

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, Come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….41 Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devils and his angels…46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Matthew 25:34,41,46
Last time we considered the glorious return of Christ. When Christ comes, perhaps this very day, the glory of His person will be revealed to all nations, languages, tribes, and tongues. Today we will consider the effect of that glorious return of Christ.
When the Lord returns a great separation will take place between two (and only two) groups. The wise virgins will be brought into the marriage supper of the lamb and the door will be shut. The foolish virgins will be kept out and cast into everlasting judgment. It is the same thing as the Lord previously prophesied of the tares being bound up and cast into the fire and the wheat being gathered into the barn. A separation between the children of God and the children of the devil, of the lovers of God and the haters of God, of the righteous and the unrighteous, and all to the glory of God.
What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.
Romans 9:22-23
Eternal Life – We may be accustomed to the glory of God revealed in the salvation, resurrection, and glorification of sinners.
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The religion of death is awake and active. If it could, it would even swallow up the Christian. But our God is more powerful and provides the remedy to such folly. Do not be ashamed of the Gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ. It is, was, and always will be the power of God unto salvation. It must be preached, proclaimed, and protected. God will give His Word success and bring those in the clutches of death and darkness to the glorious light of the Kingdom of His dear Son our Lord.

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live: that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
The world, the devil, and all the powers of the flesh and darkness are joined together for this reason – to shed the innocent blood of children.
The recent leaking of Supreme Court draft documents has again brought to light the abomination of the world’s religion of death.  Couched in the euphemisms of “a woman’s right to choose,” “human rights,” “healthcare,” and other similar terms, the demonic practice of child murder is being promoted like never before by the Roman Catholic president of the United States, his vice president, and governors, senators, and countless groups across the country. This again begs the question, why? Why are there riots in the streets to promote murder? Why are the highest officials of the land promoting murder?
The answer lies in the spiritual realm.
Two Spiritual Conditions
Throughout the Bible the Lord presents just two spiritual conditions into which all people fall: Each person is either saved or unsaved; walking in light or walking in darkness; on the highway to hell or the pathway to life; lovers of life or lovers of death; haters of God or servants of God. Myriad descriptors present only two options for man, life or death.
Life
In order to live, God tells us we must choose life (Deut. 30:19). These two words have  been used as a rallying cry for the so called “Pro-Life” movement. In its Scriptural context, it has little to do with abortion and everything to do with faith in Jesus Christ. The life we are called to choose is the life of blessing, the narrow way through the narrow gate, the truth, the solid foundation. Life is not an idea or an action; the life of Deut. 30:19 is a person. “Therefore choose life… that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life.”
This is just what Jesus says in John 14:6: “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.”
As the LORD calls us to choose life He calls us to believe, have faith, and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation so that we might have everlasting life through Him. The Jesus Christ we are called to trust is the God Man in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He shed His own blood and died, so that His children might have life and live. Choose life means simply this – repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation and you shall be saved.
The preacher of Proverbs sums it up this way, “For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD” (8:35). This is one spiritual state of man – the man that has found Christ and eternal life in Him. In this state, as a servant of the living and true God, this man sets himself to serve and glorify his King. The result is that [both he and his] descendants may live.
Death
There is the second condition – it is the condition of those who hate life, light, and truth. They are those who love death, darkness, and lies.
The preacher said, “All they that hate me love death” (Proverbs 8:36).
Many have foolishly believed that through reason, science, speeches, and laws, they can persuade the followers of death that life is good. What they fail to grasp is that those outside of Christ are not just prone to sin and evil, they love it. Those that hate Christ love death.
The apostle puts it this way, they not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them (Romans 1:32). The wicked glory in your flesh (Galatians 6:13). They love the shedding of innocent blood. They delight in sending their children and, if they could, your children to the slaughter. As the Christian delights in serving the living and true Lord with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, so the wicked delights to serve sin and death with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Why are the wicked rioting, threatening, enraged by a draft ruling from the Supreme Court that does not prohibit abortion but turns it over to the states to regulate murder? Because they perceive their religion and way of life is being somehow attacked.
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