Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
By Lou Coleman-Yeboah
(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— You best believe that! There will be an end! Going around talking ‘bout it’s your prerogative, do what you want to do.” Ain’t taking heed to nothing! I tell you, IF it was God’s character [which it is most DEFINITELY NOT] but IF it was, he would say to you what Alonzo Harris [Denzel Washington – Training Days] said to the residents of The Jungle: “Aww, you mofo. Okay. Alright! I’m putting cases on all you itches. Huh. You think you can do this crap…. You think you can do this to me? You mofo will be playing basketball in Pelican Bay when I get finished with you. SHU program, nigga! 23 hours lockdown! I’m the man up in this piece. You’ll never see the light of day…. who da heck do you think you’re dealing with? I’m the police, I run -it around here. You just live here. Yeah, that’s right, you better walk away. Go on and walk away… cause I’m gonna burn this mofo down. King Kong ain’t got nothing on me. That’s right, that’s right… I’m winning anyway. I’m winning… I’m winning any mofo way. I can’t lose. You disloyal, fool-as itches made punk.”
Now, I know some of you are floored right now. It’s as if I have tasered you with a taser gun and you have become motionless. I can just imagine some of you saying, “Oh, no she didn’t!” “What!” And then some saying, “I knew it! I knew she was not all that religious.” Always talking about repentance, well she need to repent! Whichever the case may be, all I want to know is, can you hear me now?
You know in [Daniel 5:5-23] Belshazzar threw a party one day with his princes, wives, concubines and they were drinking from the sacred cups from Jerusalem temple while they praised the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone. In the same hour while the party was going on, a man’s hand appeared and begin to write on the wall of the king’s palace. This got the King Belshazzar’s attention because he was able to see the handwriting on the wall, but did not understand what it meant. The king was so afraid that his whole countenance changed, his mind was trouble, he became afraid, and his knees began to knock together. I tell you, God has to first get your attention before he can deliver His Word to you. You see the method is not as important as the message. But getting your attention is the key to getting your life in order. I tell you, God is trying to get your attention before the enemy comes in and takes over your life. God loves us so much that He is willing to get your attention by any means necessary. He will do whatever it takes to get your attention.
Let’s assume you had a carbon monoxide detector in your home. You have it because you want to detect poison, because you know that if you breathe in carbon monoxide, it will kill you. So you buy an alarm, and you want that alarm to go off very loudly with that shrieking noise if there is carbon monoxide anywhere near you. My job is to be your alarm today. And I want you to know that you have a soul that is of greater value than the whole world. And one of two things will happen to your soul: Your soul will be saved or your soul will be lost. I want your soul to be saved, and because of that, I will do everything and go to great length to try to win you to Christ. Because I know as [2 Peter 3:9] says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Remember, neither time, nor death, nor judgment linger. Don’t overlook the obvious here. But understand that if you go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. [Hebrews 10:26].
“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness…” [Acts 17:30-31] and no one, and I mean no one, is above God’s law. Each person will give account of himself to God [Romans 14:10-12; 1 Peter 4:5-6]. A Day of Reckoning is coming. You may reject it, deny it, dispute it, but the Bible declares it as a fact. [2 Corinthians 5:10]. It will come as destruction from the Almighty [Isaiah13]. Such a matter as this, therefore, is not to be taken lightly. If it’s true that we are held accountable for what we do, that we face a day of reckoning, then we ought to know it and pattern our conduct accordingly. I make no apologies for teaching on judgment, even though some persons may find it discomforting. It won’t do to simply present God as a caring loving God. The gospel will not be the gospel against that backdrop. It only makes sense against the backdrop of truth. And that truth today is that God has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. [Acts 17:31] and that day is looming on the horizon. “… As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live…”[Ezekiel 33:11].
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool… [Isaiah 1:18].
