Imagine we are at someone’s house high in the mountains. The owner of the place had a beautiful, 1958, bright red, convertible corvette. It was in pristine condition. It looked absolutely perfect. We were all taking turns sitting in the car and revving the motor. You could feel the power of this vehicle with each press of the gas pedal. You really want to take this bad boy for a spin. Nothing real big, you promise you will behave yourself but you just want to feel the thrill of driving down the road in this classic. You keep telling me you are going to do it. This is what you really want and if I don’t agree with you, I need to just keep my mouth shut and if I was truly your friend, I would help you make this dream a reality (Story to be continued)……

“You can (Bible) thump all you want, just not in my face” is but one of many comments I have heard and/or read on social media lately. Many of the comments are very offensive and very direct. I am finding more and more that most people don’t want others to speak unless they are in complete agreement with them. This is why the name of Jesus offends people. It causes them to see their imperfections.

The message I deliver to people is twofold:
1. With Christ, you can have life and have it more abundantly. There is joy, comfort, and peace in serving Jesus. When your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, you have a home waiting for you in Heaven’s land, where there will be no death or sickness, only joy.
2. The other is that unless you believe in Christ, repent and be born again, you will die in your sins and an eternity in a lake of fire waits. There will be unimaginable torments. You will be separated from all love and happiness. The Bible teaches that you will pray to die and can’t die and that it would even been better if you would have never been born.

We live in the information age and information is vital when making decisions. Too often we tend to search for the answer that best suits our desires rather than to seek the truth. I find that one piece of false information that the world has accepted is that “Love”, is actually allowing others to live any way they like and accepting their lifestyle as good. As Christians, we are often “educated” about what true love is. We are told that it is to accept all lifestyles and tolerate sin. We are reminded that we are not perfect therefore, we are no better than anyone else. Well, I have news for everyone. I am not perfect, but I am forgiven. I was born of love, not just any love, but by the love of God. Because of this, I now know what true love is, it is telling others the truth, especially when it hurts. The reason is because I find in scripture that only the truth can make you free (John 8:32).

When looking at the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), we can all come to the understanding that the Priest and Levite did not show the victim any love or compassion but rather it was the Samaritan that displayed kindness and mercy. Given what everyone can see in this lesson, we all, for the most part, can agree that it was the Samaritan that did the right thing and the Levite and Priest did the wrong thing. A good friend of mine recently told me that the “Quiet Moral Majority” have no one to blame but themselves for the condition of this country. Though I am not prepared to say that the majority of Americans are true born again Christians, I will admit that the majority of Americans give good lip service, but when it comes to action, we are really in the minority. What most people fail to see is that the Levite and the Priest represent professing Christians who do nothing. They are minding their own business, not forcing their beliefs (or actions) on anyone. They are just living their life as quietly as possible and not wanting to cause any waves, which ironically, is exactly how the world wants Christians to behave. The Good Samaritan is the person who tells people about Jesus. They never back down on spreading the gospel and never compromise their principles. These of course, are the people the world doesn’t like. They are pushy and out of touch with reality. Many are poor, uneducated fools who need to learn to keep their big mouth shut. The last thing concerning this parable is often overlooked too. That person, who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead, is you, the unrepentant sinner. The devil has robbed you, lied to you, and is trying to keep you from the only thing that can save you. By him, you have been deceived and blinded from the truth.

The world thinks that to love someone is to be passive and tolerant, but consider this, God is love. While naturally on this earth, Jesus was God in the flesh. He wanted the very best for His people, told them the absolute truth and offered them eternal life and they crucified Him! People don’t want the truth; they want to be left alone in misery, being deceived by the devil who has masked the penalty of sin as a reward. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” – John 3:19.

Satan, the father of lies, has planted many doctrines by teaching there are many ways; Being good enough, being better than someone else, not getting into trouble (or at least not getting caught), or just being as good as you can be are all first class tickets to heaven. Most people are led to believe that mass murderers, child molesters, rapists, etc… are the ones that will inherit the lake of fire. What people are not told is that good, upstanding, and moral citizens will inherit the same lake of fire if they have not been born again. I realize it’s hard to hear, but it’s the truth and everyone needs to hear it. We should love you enough to take the insults and blind hatred. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” – Romans 8:9. When you come to the full understanding that you are the victim left for dead (Concerning the parable), not only will your lifestyle change, not only will you desire for people of God to be around you, but there is a good chance you will seek them out.

“We love them more than we fear them, so we tell them” – Phil Robertson

…… To finish my opening illustration, you jump in that 58 Corvette and take off. The wind in your hair and the thrill of the adventure is everything you thought it would be. Simply put, this is one of the highlights of your life. Suddenly, you go around a curve and the bridge directly in front of you is out so you slam on the breaks and….. to your shocking surprise, you discover the breaks don’t work. I was with you before you took off and I had the knowledge concerning the breaks and the bridge. I chose to be the priest or the Levite in the parable. I showed you “worldly understood love” by not standing in your way and allowing you to fulfill a lifelong dream. I kept my Bible thumping knowledge to myself and let you drive to your death. Knowing the whole truth, what should I have done? We must remember, there are lost sinners on the broad road that leads to destruction, and at this time in their life, they don’t want to hear about the breaks or the bridge. They just want the ride.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” – Acts 4:12