Something about human nature - I'm always learning about us. If you just read God's Word and obey it, there's no reason for secrecy. It's out in the open. However, if you pick and choose what you will and will not obey - you place yourself in a position of having to either defend your position with intimidation (because scripture won't help you) or, you will have to keep your sin a secret from those who love the Lord and love you. Or, there is always the other alternative.....making sure you don't "run in to" those who would question your actions based upon the knowledge that you call yourself a Christian.

Accountability. The Apostles made sure to warn us that we need to be accountable to the Body of Christ.......and, we are not in this modern world - we each have our "own" religion - our "own" relationship with God......but the truth is none of that is found anywhere in scripture.

Matthew 12:36But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.Matthew 12:35-37 (in Context) Matthew 12 (Whole Chapter)
Romans 14:12So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.Romans 14:11-13 (in Context) Romans 14 (Whole Chapter)
Hebrews 13:17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.Hebrews 13:16-18 (in Context) Hebrews 13 (Whole Chapter)
Who has the "rule over you"? To whom are you accountable? What's that? You don't answer to anybody? How so? With what authority do you do this? Do you have a special arrangement with God over your salvation which allows you to ignore His counsel and do as you please?

It's really heavy today especially, since we have gotten so far away from how we are supposed to live, and since we feel we are "special" just because we are "Americans" living in this rich land. But, all of that is fixing to dissappear from sight, and we will be in worse conditiion than the 3rd World countries soon. We feel like if we can "afford" it, then it's no one's business what we do or where we go......that's not what God said.

1 Thessalonians 5:10-12 (King James Version)
10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
12And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
I know this sounds foreign to you.....because we don't believe that anyone is over us in the Lord, and can admonish us.....we have our "own" relationships with Jesus, afforded to us by our denominations, and we don't have to follow the rules everyone else follows to get in. But, there it is in the scripture, proof positive that we are under those who are over us in the Lord, and they are qualified and ordered to admonish us when we disobey.....amen. What we do here in this place is, when a preacher or someone from the church comes to us to "admonish" us - we just quit going to that church and ignore that person, or those persons......it's that simple. And, since lightning doesn't strike us, we believe God is allright with it, too.
I pity the souls who preach "once-saved-always-saved" because they cannot back it up, and in the day of adversity, they will be let down, even themselves. They have taken scripture and twisted it and maneuvered it to say what they want it to say, instead doing what God said to do in the first place.
Proverbs 28:13He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
As we start this new week, we must understand that it's what God says that counts, not what we perceive of what He says, or what we accept of what He says, or what we understand of what He says.........because He will gladly come to whomever seeks Him with their whole heart and He will give them His Word with their understanding opened.......He is faithful. No excuses.

In Jesus Name, amen.

Matthew 5:27Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:Matthew 5:26-28 (in Context) Matthew 5 (Whole Chapter)
Matthew 5:28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.Matthew 5:27-29 (in Context) Matthew 5 (Whole Chapter)
Matthew 5:32But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.Matthew 5:31-33 (in Context) Matthew 5 (Whole Chapter)
Matthew 19:9And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.Matthew 19:8-10 (in Context) Matthew 19 (Whole Chapter)
Tiger Woods....spotlighted .just because he has attained such a high status in the world's eyes........

The world loves adultery. From cartoons on up to the top Hollywood productions - adultery and fornication are the favorite themes.......yet, when one of their sacred cows - who give them pages of media feed and lots of dollars in their pockets.....falls from grace to the point of getting careless and going public....THEN it's wrong.

Think about it people - this is not a godly nation - it is a nation full of sin and selfishness......it is a nation that won't even let prayer in schools and gives more allegiance to pagan religions than to Jesus Christ. Yet, when it will pay for them - they get on a stump and shout "morals....morals".

The truth is that Tiger Woods messed up - he went outside of his marriage to dally and got caught. "Everyone" else on the tour "does it", but he, got caught. That's the rule of law with adulterers and womanizers......"don't get caught".

Who in the media or on the Golf Tour or anywhere else in the world....can cast the first stone?

There's really only one answer for Tiger Woods and for any other "lowlier" man or woman
on the face of this earth.....if he has committed adultery -
2 Chronicles 7:14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.2 Chronicles 7:13-15 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 7 (Whole Chapter)
Note that the verse says "which are called by my name",...so step one is to find out how to be a person "called by His name:". People who are "called by His name" will be those who come in the "Door" and don't try to get in any other way....
John 10:1Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.John 10:1-3 (in Context) John 10 (Whole Chapter)
John 10:2But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.John 10:1-3 (in Context) John 10 (Whole Chapter)
John 10:9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.John 10:8-10 (in Context) John 10 (Whole Chapter)
Result pages:
1 Adultery is a sin like any other sin - except for that Proverbs 6 says:
32But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
33A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
Therefore, the sinner must repent before God and be delivered from the sin - and must live holy after that. It's very simple. Now, Mr. Tiger has said that he is going to do his very best to be a good husband and father like his family deserves him to be. If he follows the Acts 2:38 salvation formula by which the first church entered into covenant with Jesus, and if he repents and obeys God from now on, he has a chance......but if he tries to do it on his own with his own understanding of things.....he will fall again and again till he loses everything.
I choose to pray for Mr. Tiger Woods - because I love people who have committed adultery, and I know how devastating it can be for the family - and how hard it is to forgive it. I also know how hard it is to trust a person after they have committed adultery - especially in a relationship that is not centered in Jesus Christ. I also choose to believe the Bible and I understand that what God has said is Truth - and that anyone who entertains sin for a moment can wind up entertaining and committing adultery and a whole host of other sins with it.....and distancing themselves from God and the only help they have.
Remember, the church is compared to a great whore who has committed adultery with satan - read the Book of Revelation - He makes it very clear how He feels about that sin - yet , He is true to His Word....
2 Chronicles 7:14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.2 Chronicles 7:13-15 (in Context) 2 Chronicles 7 (Whole Chapter)
amen and amen......
Revelation 19:1-3 (King James Version)
Revelation 19
1And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

This news story is fresh - but it caught my eye because I am being dealt with by God about how impossible it is to "do right" without the power of the Holy Ghost in us.....I was taught in my religion as a child that the Holy Ghost was something I received when I was baptized in the titles I was left with my disappointment that I was capable of still doing the things that were supposed to have gone under that water.....forever. I wanted to be holy - but my flesh warred with me constantly to not be holy. I was taught at church that if I went up and "rededicated" my life to Christ then things would be better - but they were not. I would do the accursed thing - then cry my eyes out from shame and disgust and longing to erase it altogether.....but, it lingered there, always being Satan's tool to whip me with - to make me believe that the reason I did it was because God had rejected me because I couldn't obey. When I looked to my church for a solution - I was assured that I was "all right" and shouldn't worry about it - that "no one is perfect"......and that God forgives ALL my sin because I was baptized.......never, ever did they tell me that I had to live holy of I could lose my salvation----they left that out of it completely - they just told me to "try" to do good, but that I was saved and safe even if I was sinning..
Some people are not as fortunate as me - to be able to see their sin and discern that it IS sin.....some people are plagued by subtle sin - so subtle that they don't even know they are committing it....till it's too late. For instance - have you ever been lonely? Did you watch t.v. shows about relationships, read romantic novels, entertain the loneliness? Did you find yourself looking for "love" in all the wrong places instead of throwing yourself into the Word of God and being of service to Him? Did you find that the relationship(s) you gained through this method were not lasting relationships which edified you and helped you walk closer with God? or, did you find that the relationship(s) you formed were godly and to the building up of your spirit and your service to God? 'Nuff said. A girlfriend of mine was single and longing to be married. She went to her pastor's wife crying and saying God had abandoned her and was not answering her prayers for a husband. The wife asked her what was she watching. She told her the names of the Soap Operas and shows she was watching - and the wife told her "there's your problem- those relationships are nothing godly - and they make you think that if you don't have that kind of relationship then something is wrong - when the truth is that if you shut off the t.v. and got into God's Word, things would change for you.....she did, they did....she's now married happily to a very godly man and God gave her a little girl to raise as her own - and gave her back a daughter she lost when she went to prison years before she knew Jesus.....God answers prayer - God does not tolerate disobedience.

Here's a man who obviously, out rightly hated - and if you will read the highlights I have noted here, you will see that the "law" itself is responsible for the deaths of the 4 officers - the "law" had this criminal where he belonged, but they let him go time and time again because of their confusion - that's what we do when we entertain sin and don't put aside our flesh and put in under submission to God's commands.....we bring confusion into our lives and we let the demons have their way when we go by the law of our flesh...- and it leads to our own spiritual death.....our own assassination
Proverbs 14:12There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.Proverbs 14:11-13 (in Context) Proverbs 14 (Whole Chapter)
Proverbs 16:25There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.Proverbs 16:24-26 (in Context) Proverbs 16 (Whole Chapter)
SEATTLE — A man suspected of fatally shooting four uniformed police officers was shot and killed by the police early Tuesday, after a manhunt that fanned out through Seattle and beyond, according to news reports.
In 2000, Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas
· granted clemency to Mr. Clemmons after he had served 11 years of a 95-year sentence for robbery and burglary convictions on charges prosecuted when he was 17. That history continued to play a role in his prosecution in Washington this year, Pierce County prosecutors said.
After Mr. Clemmons was arrested in Pierce County in May on charges of assaulting officers who were investigating claims that he had broken neighbors’ windows with rocks,
· Arkansas issued a warrant for his arrest for violating conditions of his parole, said Stephen Penner, a deputy prosecuting attorney in Pierce County.
Mr. Clemmons was initially held without bail on the Arkansas warrant. In July, an Arkansas
· corrections official sent a letter revoking the hold and saying “appropriate action will be taken once the pending charges have been adjudicated.”
Without the hold from Arkansas, Mr. Penner said, the State Constitution
· allowed Mr. Clemmons the right to bail while the rape and assault charges were pending. He was released on $190,000 bail on Nov. 23, Mr. Penner said.
The officers who were killed were
Tina Griswold, 40;
Ronald Owens, 37;
Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; and
Greg Richards, 42.
All left behind children and families, and they were mourned at makeshift memorials at the Lakewood Police Department, at a church vigil in Tacoma and on various Web sites, including Facebook.
We must wake up from our complacency and put our flesh under control to God - we must turn our backs on "Egypt" and walk away from it - run as fast as our little legs can carry us.....NOT LOOKING BACK.....lest we wind up like Lot's wife.....amen.