From: jesus_is_lord To: List Member Subject: "You're too negative!" Date: Friday, December 31, 1999 3:04 AM jesus_is_lord [Reminder: this list is for Christians. If you are hellbound, get washed in the blood of Jesus and then it will be for you.] Dear Christian Friend: Greetings in the name of the ONLY wise God and Saviour Jesus Christ. I'd like to preface this e-mail with the fact that this ministry has A LOT of friends. I am answering to the subject comment only because it may help someone to be able to give an answer to those who discourage them from telling the truth... Of late, I've had two or three professing Christians say our website is too negative. They say there is nothing there about "the love of God". Interesting comment, but is it true? Do they know the Bible definition of "the love of God"? The Lord has put a few concepts in my brains concerning this. For those who do not understand the importance of warning people of error and hell, I answer thusly: (1) In reading the scriptures, does one find repeated warnings or does one only find an abundance of information on heaven? Does one find information on a soft, docile, effeminate God or do we find information on a Father, Husband, Lawgiver, and Judge? (2) Saved people live inside of an enemy, the flesh. We must be continually reminded to mortify the enemy. The flesh was with us while we were in the world doing shameful things and it has followed us into this relationship with Jesus Christ. It lusteth against the Spirit. Shouldn't we recognize the infirmity of the flesh so that we can wage our warfare properly? (3) There are so many kinds of voices in the world and none of them is without signification. There are thousands, yea millions, of counterfeit, evil, fake voices that lure people into error. Meanwhile there is only one overriding transcendent truth--Jesus Christ is the Lord, the ONLY way to God, and He will only accept worship based on truth. Is it wrong, or is it right, to tell unbelievers that the voice they are heeding will take them to hellfire? (4) How can a man REPENT if he has not been shown the error of his ways? Repentance is turning from evil to God. If a man thinks he's doing good while actually doing evil, how can he repent? The absence of repentance is a fundamental reason for the many false conversions. Would-be soulwinners tell men nothing of repentance instead emphasizing that Jesus will be a cure-all for their problems, like a genie. Meanwhile, the "soulwinner" has totally missed the whole reason a man needs to be saved--man has TRANSGRESSED the commandments of a holy God and needs to be reconciled to Him through the blood of Jesus Christ. (5) II John 6 says that THE LOVE OF GOD is that we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. How can an unregenerate man understand THE LOVE OF GOD if he is not taught that he has broken God's commandments (remember keeping the commandments IS the love of God)? A man in error cannot know the love God because he does not keep God's commandments and he must be shown this. Again, THE LOVE OF GOD IS KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS. If a man is not keeping the commandments found in the word of God, he must be warned. Jesus said "whosoever loveth me keepeth my commandments". How can I explain the love of God to the disobedient man without first showing him that he is disobedient? The love of God IS obedience which Jesus perfectly manifested when He was obedient even unto the death of the cross. (6) The love of God is indeed wonderful and it will take us to mountain tops--but it is conditional. We must forsake evil (repent) and do good in order to experience this marvellous, high, and holy journey. Isaiah 58 gives a wonderful overview of what man must do to ride upon the high places of the earth with a loving, magnificent God. Ever met a professing Christian that says they can't hear God? There's no obedience, therefore no mountain top. (7) The reason for the cross is negative. Man is so evil, that God the Son left His throne in heaven to die for our evil wickedness. The cross was about blood, and pain, and sin, and death. Them things ain't positive. The results are positive for me, but Jesus hurting was an open testament to the DEPRAVITY OF MAN. Peter says the righteous are SCARELY saved. That blood and pain and sin and death because of our EVIL ways. Ain't nothing about the unregenerate man positive, it is ALL negative. Jesus did not die for the goodness of man (there is not goodness in man). Jesus did not die for the love of God (though He manifested it). Jesus died for a negative reason, the WICKED DEPRAVITY of man. Perhaps the critics don't want to accept the fact that we are DEPRAVED and need continual warning. Sin doth so easily beset us. We are so easily taken away with error. Our flesh lusteth to sin. In my brains I think I'd like to do an entire section on worship and what it is like to ride upon the high places, yet I find it difficult to put these spiritual experiences into words. Perhaps that's because they are to be EXPERIENCED. Reading about an experience with the Lord won't get you to the high places, obedience will--see Isaiah 58. I don't present myself as some great one, I am not. Yet, my encounter with the living God is real even if it does not parallel the great heights of others. I know what Jesus can do and this is not second or third hand knowledge. This is first-hand, eyewitness testimony. God has been faithful to me and He hath done great and marvellous things on my behalf. He has shown me many things. But all these wonderful things are rooted in one thing-- OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD. A man WILL NOT ride on the high places without obedience. In order for him to obey, he must be shown that he is disobedient according to God's word. He'll see he is in trouble, get convicted, and then learn the right way. Once he is on track, then God can step in and take him to new heights. ********* On another note-- I just received an email telling me how to access a website in the event the internic routing system goes down for Y2K. I'm passing on this information for our website-- ********** In the event that portions of the internet goes down, in particular, the routing system at internic, you should still be able to access the www.jesus-is-lord.com website directly by using the root isp address. You should be able to access by typing the following isp address into your browser address window: http://206.215.191.185/ If you'd like, you can type this in now and then bookmark it when our website comes up. May we go into the new year praising Jesus harder than ever. May He give us increased boldness to speak a word in His name. May we learn to fear God and not man. I ask the Lord to forgive me of my sins so that my heart will be right. Sin hardens the heart--makes it so that I can't even feel that good ol' Jesus joy until I repent. That uneasiness is the Holy Ghost letting us know that all is not well. Praise the Lord for His constant watchcare. "Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews 12:12-14 for Jesus' sake, sis. tracy -- http://www.jesus-is-lord.com ...I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Ezekiel 2:4, 6 ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to jesus_is_lord-unsubscribe@listbot.com ______________________________________________________________________ Applying to college this year? Apply online at Embark.com and enter the Embark.com Tuition Sweepstakes! You could win $80,000 for tuition to the college of your dreams! Enter daily to increase your chances of winning: Sweepstakes ends 1/15/00. Click to enter: http://www.listbot.com/links/embark