Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
Lou Coleman
By Lou Coleman
You really do need to kneel before God your Maker and appeal to Him for His mercy and forgiveness; because no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. [1 John 3:9]. What’s wrong with you? Claiming to be born again when your life contradicts it. I tell you there is nothing more damaging, nothing more hurtful as when a person who has been forgiven of sin continues to sin. Dragging sin where ever you go. Dragging it into the Church. Dragging it into your home. Wearing it around your neck on display. You are really slipping into a lukewarm, careless, presumptuous frame of mind about your own sinfulness. It worries me that many of you are living double lives. I want you to know that Jesus despised the double-mindedness of the religious rulers of His day. In [Matthew 23:27–28], He said, “Woe to you…….you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which looks beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”Repent before it’s too late! Paul informs us that “these times of [past] ignorance God has overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” [Acts 17:30]. I tell you to live a double life is a discredit to God. Repent before it’s too late! Christianity is not a sinning-repenting religion. It’s a victorious religion. There should be a place where you quit your sinning. Shame on you!
I want you to know that Sodom and Gomorrah were two of the most reprehensible cities known to man. They were so filled with sin that God could no longer hold back His wrath. He sent two angels to warn Lot and his family to leave before the destruction of the cities. “The angels told Lot and his family, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” [Genesis 19:17]. Lot understood and obeyed. He took his wife and daughters out of the city. He tried to get his future son-in-laws to flee too, but they thought he was joking. When they were out of the city, Lot’s wife could not resist the temptation to sin and look back. Immediately “…she became a pillar of salt.” [Genesis 19:26] Don’t be a fool! Warning comes before destruction. Lot’s wife lost her life because she couldn’t let go of sin. Scripture is clear: Any compromise with the world, whether in doctrine, morals, or relationships, has disastrous consequences. You better know that you know. The godly reaction to sin is to recognize it from Scripture, to mourn over it, and to confess it without excuse to the God of mercy. Choose your position – whom will you follow?
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit….” [Ephesians 5:8-18]
