No Corners Cut, No Pacifying, No Round-About Way

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Your life will be hell before going to Hell! Listen, I don’t make this stuff up. [Isaiah 30:1] says, “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of Me.” “Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites…” [Matthew 23:14]. “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how shall ye escape the damnation of Hell?” [Matthew 23:33]… Know that the end has come upon you, and I will send My anger against you saith the Lord; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations.  My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity; but I will repay your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst, then you shall know that I am the LORD [Ezekiel 7:3-8]. Therefore, consider how far you have fallen and repent. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place [Revelation2:5]. Hell before going to Hell! It’s your call….. What will it be? I tell you, NOW is the acceptable time; NOW is the day of salvation. Don’t ponder it, don’t think about it, just Do it! Repent!

You see, procrastination is the kidnapper of souls, and the recruiting-officer of Hell. Procrastination is the trick of the enemy. Don’t believe the lies that you can do it tomorrow when you can do it today. Besides, what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away [James 4:14].   God is a God of the NOW! So when God brings something to light, revealing an area that you need to change or something that you need to make right, don’t put if off. Not tomorrow, next week, or next month, but do it now! Understand the choice that is before you today. The choice of death and destruction or the choice of life and prosperity! Don’t get confused on such an easy and obvious choice. This is not a process to think through how far is too far. This isn’t a process to think through whether you should. God confronts you with only one question… What are you waiting for?

You know in [1 Sam 20:3] David said, “Yet as surely as the LORD lives and you live, there is about one step between you and death!”  [1 Corinthians 15:30-31] asks, “so why do you endanger yourself every hour?” Repent and be converted.

If you are ready to say yes, please pray with me: Almighty God, you are holy. I recognize that I deserve death for not doing things your way. I turn away from those things that grieve you. I gratefully receive your forgiveness and accept your love. I want to be in relationship with you, to be part of your family. Heavenly Father, I accept your proposal to be my Lord and Savior all of my days. Amen!

If you prayed that prayer with me, I want you to know that “It is finished!”   Our sins are done away with, and we are free and forgiven.

Everything we’ve ever done wrong, every mistake we’ve ever made, has been paid for. It is finished!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Yeah I said it! Just an egomaniac, arrogant, big-headed, cocksure person, thinking you are too good to be damned. Boasting that, “You are the Captain of your Fate; the Master of your Soul.” If you believe that Captain… I want you to know that your ship is about to Sink!

Many people think they are self-sufficient, no need for God. That spirit of independence apart from God is what the Bible calls pride. It ruined the human race [Genesis 3:5].  In Proverbs chapter 6 and verses 16 to 19 there is a list of seven things which God hates. These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. Pride is put at the top of the list because it is the main factor which drives men and women’s disobedience and rebellion against God’s laws. The Bible says: Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not go unpunished” [Proverbs. 16:5];   The Lord shall cut off… the tongue that speaketh proud things [Psalm 12:3]; “God resists the proud…” [James. 4:6] For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and ‘he shall be brought low [Isaiah 2:12].

With pride in your heart you provoke God to anger. Not only will God not help you, God will literally become your adversary [1 Peter 5:5].  A lesson from Biblical history – Who better than King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to demonstrate a man who had God as an adversary. Daniel chapter 4 is a riveting one. I suggest you take a moment to read it. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had to learn the hard way. You don’t want to learn the hard way. You need to humble yourself on our own before the mighty hand of God, so He does not have to do the humbling to you or for you. Repeatedly God tells us pride precedes destruction. It’s not just that you will be humiliated. Ultimately you will be destroyed. Why? Because God hates pride, resists the proud, and sets Himself in battle array against the proud. Know that you will come to naught unless you repent. Worst of all, pride brings eternal ruin. Don’t take my word for it, read [Luke 18:9-14], the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.

As the Old Testament prophet Obadiah said: “Your proud heart has deceived you . . . . Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.” And the greatest prophet of them all Isaiah, speaking for the Lord, told the proud that they will be forced to make their bed with worms and maggots. There is no pulling of punches when it comes to describing the fate of the proud in the Bible. Pride is a deadly sin that causes those filled to overflowing with themselves great sorrow and grief.

The message is clear from beginning to end in the Bible – the proud will ultimately be brought low. The proud will ultimately fall. The proud must live with the consequences of their actions and their deeds. Perhaps this is a good day to say sorry to God for the pride in your heart. Perhaps today is a good day to begin to put right those things that your pride has caused. Perhaps today is a good day to clothe yourself with humility and to start to live the Christ-like life God has shown to you. Don’t be deceived, God will not be mocked. What you sow you will reap!

You pray for me as I continue to pray for you!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Is that right? If I didn’t know a fool, I know one now. How you gonna know more than your Maker fool? God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb [Jeremiah 1:5]. I tell you only a fool would deign to say, “I know what is best for me.” In fact, that would be downright rude, and would showcase how arrogance begets stupidity. This is the most basic message of Wisdom: Never “backseat drive” someone who clearly knows you better than you know yourself, and wants to help you. I should just end this message right here!  You know nothing! It is only in God that you live and have your being!

The nerve of the self-serving and foolish thinking of prevailing culture today sending a loud and audacious message to God: “I know better. Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take it from here.” You know nothing! God knows best!

People today tend to think that they are the ones in charge of their lives. They call the shots. They make the decisions. And God is left out of the picture.  Let no one deceive himself. God is the Lord of your life. He is the one who gives your life. He is the one who directs your life. And He is the one who determines when your life is over. Don’t get it twisted!  You would do good to remember what [1 Corinthians 3:18] says, “if any man among you think that he is wise in this age let him become foolish that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.

You know, there are two contrasts in life – the foolish man and the wise man.  The foolish man is someone who thinks they know everything. You can’t tell them nothing!  They will not listen to reason. Just “unteachable.”  Try to show them their waywardness only creates an enemy!  But the wise man – while the fool persists in his foolishness, the wise man will listen when he is confronted with the truth and he will adjust his life accordingly. He has a “teachable” spirit! He realizes his own limitations and shortcoming and grasps every opportunity to develop his life into one that is more pleasing to the Lord.

What a difference! The fool says, “I can take care of myself; I can figure out my own life. I don’t need others telling me what to do.” By contrast, the attitude of the wise man is: “I’m always open to the input and advice of those older/wiser/more experienced than I am.” And that is why, as another proverb says, the wise become even wiser. Don’t be a self-centered fool by ignoring wise and helpful input from others. Don’t be a fool, taking pride in what you perceive as your intelligence and wisdom. Such wisdom “is foolishness in God’s sight”. By contrast, trust the Lord, learn His wisdom from the Scriptures of the Bible, acknowledge Him and His ways, and you will be a truly wise man or woman. You think you know better than God…. You know nothing!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Short-term pleasure; long-term misery and pain. SIN… a moment of pleasure, but leads to death!  Jesus said that your soul is worth more than the rest of the world put together. He asked, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” [Mark 8:36]. The value of your soul… It is the most valuable possession you have. All the wealth and power you might gain is not worth the price of your soul!  It is a lesson you will do well to remember. If you don’t believe me just ask the rich man who pleaded,” I beg you, father, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so they will not also end up in this place of torment [Luke 16:28]. The rich man in hell lifted up his eyes, being in torment and said please; send someone to warn my brothers, for Hell is no joke. It’s a very real place and there is no place like Hell.  How long will you allow the devil to lie to you? I tell you, you cannot afford to lose your soul for if you lose it, you lose all. So wake up! Enough of this foolishness!  It’s time to take a stand, to fight back – to take control!

Listen, if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment [2 Peter 2:4] what do you think he will do to you if you keep on sinning.  The best advice is to put as much distance as you can between yourself and the sources of sin and temptation in your life, because Satan will not stop until he has ruined your life. He will not back down until sin has taken everything of value from you. He will not stop until you are broken, your life wasted and you are of no use to God! Stop being a puppet for Satan! His only purpose is to kill, steal and destroy you!  

And never try to cover up your sin. Because the moment you do, it will raise it ugly head. Let me give you an example.  Have you ever watched an opossum escape from a predator? They use a defense mechanism distinct to only a few animals—playing dead. When faced with a threat, an opossum will often fall on the ground, close his eyes, extend his limbs, and lie very still. He appears lifeless—and harmless. But when the danger passes, he revives and scurries away. You can almost hear laughter as he makes his escape.

Playing dead seems to be an effective means of survival, but opossums aren’t the sole practitioners of that strategy. Our sins often “play dead” too, especially when faced with the threat of execution. They fake death in order to escape it. While you may think you’ve slain a particular sin, sometimes life still pulses within your enemy and it secretly takes its leave, stays quiet, and waits on danger to pass.

We’ve all been tricked by sin’s craftiness, haven’t we? How many times have you sheathed your sword, convinced sin was finished, only to suffer a violent retaliation a few hours later? How does that happen, and what can you do to stop it? Rather than conceal your sins, confess and forsake them. That’s how you kill sin (1 John 1:9). Merely covering up your sin obscures the problem from plain sight, which keeps it secret. You can’t hit a target you can’t see. Sin doesn’t die in those conditions—it thrives.

Don’t be deceived like Achan who hid his sin and silenced his conscience until it was too late. He even brought sin’s treachery into his own home (Joshua 7:21). His deception cost him his life—and the life of his entire family (Joshua7:24-25). Don’t cover up your sin, kill it.  So the next time your sin drops to the ground before you, closes its eyes, and appears dead, don’t sheathe your sword. Kill your sins God’s way, or die sin’s way.

I pray that the Holy Ghost will use this message to grip your soul – and to put some fight back in you. God wants you to stand up against the devil – to reclaim all the territory you’ve given up to him! You see the battle on Mount Carmel never was between Elijah and Jezebel – it was between God and the devil! Elijah was full of God’s Spirit, and Jezebel was possessed by Satan. It was a battle between the powers of hell and God’s corporate body on earth!

If you do not stop sinning, one of the greatest torments in Hell for you will be every sermon you heard will be repeated in your mind over and over throughout eternity. Every plea which you ignored will be heard over and over again in Hell. My advice to you is that you should flee the wrath to come. Run to Jesus and be saved! For the loss of the soul is an ETERNAL loss. Once the soul is lost, it is lost forever [Isaiah 33:14]. It’s Not Worth It!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

And think that you are lying to everybody else too. You ain’t fooling nobody! Why complicate things? Just go ahead and admit it. I understand. Life gets complex, and sometimes we just feel the need to bend the truth to make it through the week. We need our lies to keep the pain tucked away where it can’t get to us. That deceitful heart of ours has a way making it easy for us to be okay with these lies that is, until they’re drawn out by God’s scalpel [Psalm 139:23]. What I want you know is that lies don’t just cover up the pain of life, they actually make it harder for you to grow in your faith and in your connection with others. The problem is that we have gotten so numb to them that we don’t necessarily even see the damage they do. It is important that we face our moments of truth understanding the serious implications of actions and decisions. Stop lying and start telling the truth! Truth telling is essential to the church.

Y’all get mad with me if you want to, but I ain’t sugar coating nothing! I’m going to call sin just what it is, Sin! I hear folks say, “It won’t hurt to tell a little white lie.” Yes it will and yes, it does! I don’t care how big a lie is or what color a lie is. A lie is a lie and if you lie at all it’s a sin and sin is sin.  We’ve got to stop white washing our sin. We’ve got to stop trying to cover up. We’ve come to the point where we’re calling right wrong and wrong right. Shame on us! The world manipulates – but the church is based on Truth. The world covers for itself – but the church is based on Truth. The world pulls strings – but the church is based on Truth. The world exaggerates – but the church is based on Truth. When you start introducing anything but the Truth, the Pure Unadulterated Truth into the way you handle your interactions in life, then it’s like taking a big hatchet and whacking at your own foot. Which goes to show that you ain’t hurting nobody but yourself… Stop it!

Lying is a killer! It robs you of all godly virtues. It comes as harmless yet its effects can be most devastating.  If you want to be established, lay your foundation on Truth. Go and apologize to those you have lied to or against. You cannot afford to miss Heaven! Lying is more perilous than it seems. It’s more Satan-like than Christ-like. Jesus referred to Satan as “a liar and the father of lies” [John 8:44]. By contrast, Jesus declared himself to be the Truth [John 14:6]. The prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” [Jeremiah 17:9]. What’s so indicative of our human state is the universal tendency to minimize the treachery of lying. We want certain forms of lying to be okay. Well it’s not okay! Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” [John 8:32].  

You got to learn that when you’ve done wrong, you got to live with yourself. And when you have done wrong, your memory is working against you.  David said in [Psalms 51] every time he turn around, memory, keep bringing that situation back to him. You can’t lie and get away with it. You tell one lie; you got to tell another one.  Listen, we’ve all sinned and come short of the Glory of God. My memory recalls and keeps me reminded that I haven’t always been what I am now. Memory reminds me of my mistakes that I’ve made. Reminds me of problems and flaws in my own character. I’m not talking about someone else’s memory; I’m talking about my memories that are ever before me. But I’m glad to report that when sin is plaguing you and when it’s ever before you, there’s hope. You don’t have to be overcome by your sins. There’s a God who is able to bring you out. There’s deliverance. There’s escape from sin. David shows us that way. David made it to the praying ground. David found a prayer closet and talked to God about His sins. That’s all you got to do… You need to pray about your weaknesses. You need to talk to God about your shortcomings. Talk to Him about your faults and your defects. David opened with a plea of mercy. David said, “Have mercy on me oh God according to thy loving kindness, according to thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin… Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight… “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” Somebody ought to help me tell Him thank you. Thank you Lord for a new walk and new talk. NO MORE LIES!

Loe Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Warning comes before destruction. And you had been warned, but you wouldn’t listen. I tell you it is a dangerous thing to be hardheaded. And it is even a more dangerous thing to a Christian and to be hardheaded. To know God and to choose to think, act, or behave outside of the Word, Will, and Way of God is very dangerous. Whenever you chose to disobey the Lord, He won’t stop you. When you chose to disregard the “way of escape” when temptations arise, God will not stop you. But know that to rebel against the will of God is sin! And in the end, who pays for it? You do!

It was a situation that you could have avoided altogether because it was a situation that you had no business involved in the first place. It was a situation that had all the warning signs and all the red flags waving before your very eyes, but you chose to ignore them. But I bet at the end of the situation you found yourself saying: “If I had just listened to momma and daddy…..” “If I had just paid attention to what momma and daddy was trying to tell me back then……” “If I had just done what momma and daddy had told me to do…..” “If only….!

Let me tell you about a man that if he had just listen to his momma and daddy; if he had just paid attention to what his momma and daddy was trying to tell him to do; if he had just did what his momma and daddy had told him to do, he would have had a happy ending to his life story. But instead he had a sad ending to his life story. And this man that I am talking about is Samson. Now, most of us know who Samson is. Samson was known to be one of the Judges of Israel and was known to be the strongest man to have ever lived. He was a man who was anointed with extra ordinary strength. The reason why Samson had extra ordinary strength and he was so strong was because of the covenant that he had with the Lord. You see, when Samson was born, he was born as a Nazarite. And as a Nazarite, Samson was not to touch or drink wine, nor was he to have his hair cut because God supplied Samson’s extra ordinary strength through his hair. And through his hair, God gave Samson strength to kill a lion with is bare hands. Through his hair God gave Samson strength to kill 30 Philistine men all at once. Through his hair, God gave Samson strength to tie the tails of 300 foxes and set them on fire to burn up the cornfields  of the Philistines. Through his hair, God gave Samson strength to kill a thousand of Philistines men with just a jawbone of a donkey. Yes, God blessed Samson with extra ordinary strength through his hair to defeat the Philistines. But in [Judges 16:21], we see Samson’s hair has been cut. His eyes have been gouged out. We see Samson bound up in chains and in prison, and we see him walking the grind mill all day long in the prison house. In other words, we see the strongest man who had ever lived defeated and incapacitated. Now the question is, how did the strongest man to have ever lived find himself in a defeated and incapacitated position?

Now, for a long time, I blamed Delilah for Samson demise because I said that if he had not got involved with Delilah, he would not have gotten his hair cut, he would not have lost his strength, and he would not have been apprehended by the Philistines. But as I gave a close look at Samson’s situation, I came to realize that it was Samson’s fault to find his eyes being gouged out. It was Samson’s fault to find himself in prison. It was Samson’s fault to find himself bound up in chain. It was Samson’s fault that he now finds himself grinding the grind mill walking in circles all the day long. And the reason it was his fault because if Samson had just listen to his momma and daddy in [Judges 14] I believe he would not have found himself in that situation, but Samson was hardheaded and rebellious, and a hardhead makes a soft-behind!

But understand that even though Samson messed up by getting involved in the wrong kind of relationships, God still loved and cared for him. God still used him for his glory. God still used him to defeat the Philistines. Likewise, God still loves us, and cares for us when we are in the wrong. He will still use us for his glory. But remember this, we still have to face the consequences of our actions when we do wrong. But God is a forgiving God, and a merciful God who will forgive us our sins if we just repent and ask God for forgiveness. He will give us a second chance to do it right because He is plenteous in mercy and his love is everlasting.

[Proverbs 6:20-23] says, “My son, keep thy father’s commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee, and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life;

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy word” [Psalms 119:9].

Loe Coleman

By Lou Coleman

I tell you it is amazing what some people will do to run away from God knowing darn well one cannot run away from God. God is Omnipresent. The tragedy of this and all methods of running away from God is that you really can’t run away from Him and at some point you will run into Him for [Romans 14:11] tells us that, “Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess…” So forget about it, there is no where you can go and God not know.

I tell you doing the right thing in life take guts and priority.  But many people will not do the right thing because they think they have much more to gain by doing the wrong thing. Jonah thought the same way. God had given him an assignment to go to Nineveh. He was to go to this city and proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord,” because God was ready to bring down His judgment to the city, but Jonah decided that he wasn’t going to do it, just like so many of us, we decide that we will not obey God’s command so Jonah made up his mind that he would run away.  Jonah felt that God should just wipe out the entire population in Nineveh. His feelings were that they did not deserve to live. Jonah was determined that he was not going to the city of Nineveh so he ran away to Joppa for passage on a ship and found one that was headed for the city of Tarshish. He was running from God. But little did Jonah know that you can run, but you can’t hide.

I tell you just like Jonah we find all sorts of excuses not to obey God’s voice. But I want you to know that to God there is no excuse that you can give Him for not fulfilling the call that He has placed on your life. So stop with the excuses and stop running from God!  Change your excuses by doing what God has called you to do and run to Him.  Make up your mind to love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul and to serve him.  Jesus said the only kind of love acceptable to Him is obedience to His every command – obeying His Word in all things and at all times! With that said…. Well Boo-Boo, it seems that you are out of options… You cannot run from God so you might as well run to Him! Fear God and keep His commandments for this is “the whole duty of man.”  This is man’s reason for being, his “prime directive” for his existence. And this is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. The basis by which we know that we know and love God. Having taken “everything” into consideration not just from what may be observed in life “under the sun” but from wisdom given by revelation as well the conclusion of the “whole” matter!  In view of the coming Judgment – in which every work will be judged – Whether it is good or evil…  You can run but you cannot hide!

Scripture Reading:  [Ecclesiastes 12:13] [John 14:15; John 15:10; 1 John 5:3] [1 John 2:3-4; 5:3] [Proverbs 1:7; 9:10] [John 14:15]  [Ecclesiastes 2:3,9] [1 King 4:29] [Ecclesiastes 3:17; 11:9] [Acts 17:30-31] [Romans 2:16]  [2 Corinthians 5:10]

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

You better check yourself before you wreck yourself!  Take God’s grace for granted if you want too! SUDDEN DESTRUCTION will come upon you so fast that it will have your head spinning.  God will not allow you to become complacent or neglectful concerning Him. He will not allow you to take Him for granted. Beware of taking God’s grace for granted! He does not take it lightly.  When God learnt of what Israel had done to His servants; when He learnt of how Israel had over and over again, betrayed His love and taken His grace for granted, God became furious. His patience had been tested by His very own people – Israel. And so God’s wrath came upon Israel. God used the Roman armies to destroy Israel and its Temple. “What shall you say then? Shall you continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid….”— [Rom. 6:1-2; 15-16]

Listen, God is NOT SLACK! We MUST understand that! And He says that He does not want ANY of us to perish, but that we should ALL come to REPENTANCE! And that is what this message is all about. Today, I plead with you, in love for your soul, not to be foolish, but to be wise, to consider your “latter end,” and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior.  I want you to know that God is stirring up His Spirit in a few who are awake to the call to REPENT AND AWAKEN. We know that time is short, and we have remembered what Christ taught us through His Word and through all of His apostles, including His end time apostle. Those of us who are awake know that time is URGENT. We see the sword and we are heeding God’s instruction to WARN! “Again the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying….. Speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land … when the watchman see the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosever hear the sound of the trumpet, and take not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul. So I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me…” [Ezekiel 33:1-4]

The Trumpet is sounding…… who will hear? Consider these Scriptures [Leviticus 26] and [Deuteronomy28], the “blessings and cursing” chapters of the Bible; in light of what you have just read: the increasing pressure that God applies in order to draw us closer to Him and to stop taking Him for granted. See how these curses are increasingly intensified each time Israel failed to repent of neglecting of God. What tragic results complacency toward God reaps! I tell you the Holy Spirit cries out for you who are Christians to take your Christian faith seriously, not to neglect it, not to take it for granted, and certainly not to despise it. You have been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. You have been baptized into Christ and called out of Satan’s kingdom and into the kingdom of Christ. But you’re not home free until you’re home; you have been shown wondrous grace. But you also have a warning from God in the pages of the Holy Scripture that you do well to heed, never to take His grace for granted. If only Israel had heeded this warning given by Christ. But, just like their forefathers who left Egypt with Moses, they took God’s grace to them for granted. Don’t let that be said about you!

You may assume that since you were once called to faith and baptized, you don’t need a living and active faith in Christ; you don’t need to hear His Word and receive His Sacraments as much as other people do. You may assume that since you have worked so hard to live a good and decent life, you now deserve God’s grace and recognition more than someone else does. Don’t be deceived! Satan will try to lead you to such false assumptions, to take God’s grace for granted and to imagine that you’ve earned His favor and deserve His goodness. But such wickedness drives out faith and the Holy Spirit and threatens to make your outcome like that of Israel. Payback is a Mother….. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear?

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Our age is characterized by pathetic preachers and pitiful churches. Christ Himself gave this evaluation of the Laodicea church: “Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, blind, and naked.” [Revelation 3:15-17]. The Head of the church [Jesus] was nauseated and said, “You make me sick!” You are a spectacle in the pulpit and a dis­grace in the community and need to be exposed for what you are. This was a church filled with self-deceived hypocrites. As a result of their ambivalence to spiritual things, Jesus would have nothing to do with them. He would “spit them out.” How did they get this way? [Jeremiah 14:3] says, “They came to the pits [cisterns], and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty.” The weeping prophet, Jeremiah, lamented, “They are not valiant for the truth… they know not me” [9:3].

Listen, you can’t put live chickens under a dead hen. There are too many preachers standing behind a sacred podium who have never been born again. They are spiritually dead. Their messages and manner of living reveal their inner condi­tion. Christ warned, “By their fruits ye shall know them” [Matt. 7:20]. Paul admonished, “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things” [I Cor. 2:15]. Don’t hate the messenger! I just deliver the mail….You cannot have the life of the kingdom of God until you have entered the kingdom of God. What you need is a conversion experience like that of Saul of Tarsus. You need a trip to Calvary. Let’s face it! Nehemiah was frank when he declared, “And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him” [6:12]. Preaching is a calling. It is not enough to like to preach or merely feel that one ought to preach. There must be a holy compulsion that says, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” The spiritual plight of many ministers is found in the parable of the persistent friend [Luke 11:6]: “And I have nothing to set before him.” Job complained, “Miserable comforters are ye all” [6:2]. The Apostle Paul warned, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradi­tion of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” [CoI. 2:3]. Don’t get stuck on stupid! The religious world is full of un­sent preachers. “Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready?” [2Sam.18-22]

I tell you, there are a lot of windbags in the pulpit. Isaiah expressed the same opin­ion: “We have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth” [26:18]. Jeremiah deplored, “And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them” [5:13]. The writer of Proverbs states, “Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain” [25:14]. Job declares, [13:4] “But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.”  Shall I remind you that the Laodicea church is head­ed for judgment? “God says in [Jeremiah 12:10] you have destroyed my vineyard.” The Head of the Church, Jesus Himself, is nauseated with a flabby, flaccid, halfhearted church. It is dope ad­diction of the spirit, alcoholism of the heart, cancer of the soul, and blindness of the mind and pover­ty of vision from which the peo­ple perish.

How did you get this way? The Prophet Haggai put it thus, “Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came too little” (1:9). Isaiah gives the reason: “This day is a day of trouble, and of re­buke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth” (37:3). I tell you, the early church turned the world upside down. Today the world is turning our churches up­side down! Almost a generation ago A. W.Tozer wrote: “The preaching that once an­gered the atheists and brought them charging out against God and the Bible has pretty much disappeared. Hellfire, miracles, and the necessity that men please Almighty God are no longer a serious part of current Christian teaching. Christianity has been watered down until it is little more than “cheer-’em-up stuff.” We are so afraid of being nar­row that we have opened the doors to worldliness. Christ would share the grief of Jeremiah who grieved, “Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets” (23:9). So many preachers these days are talking but not saying any­thing. The tragedy of today’s preaching is that most preachers give the people what they want to hear, not what God’s Word declares. Woe unto you!

So what can be done for pathetic preachers and pitiful churches you may ask? Consider the Potent Cure; “Begin at My Sanctuary,” says the Lord [Ezek. 9:6]. “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord,” declared Prophet Isaiah [52:11)]. “Carry forth the filthiness out of the Holy place” [II Chron. 29:5].

Listen, Christ said, “He would spew the Laodicea church out of His mouth.”  “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God…” “The hour is late. The invitation is open by the Savior Himself: Repent! “Behold, I stand at the door~ and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door~ I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me,” [Rev. 3:20]. Don’t wait too late! The clock is ticking… Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: Whatever you sow, you will also reap.  If you sow to the flesh, you will of the flesh reap corruption.  If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap everlasting life. Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant [Galatians 6:7-8].  [Proverbs 4:14-19] says… “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on…

The Apostle Paul places this warning in strong language, designed to make sure the point gets across without mistake.  It would be the height of foolishness to think that you are a match for the wits of God.  You cannot trifle with God. There is a caveat to the decisions of life and the choices you make.  Every choice has a consequence and every consequence is preceded by a choice.  It comes down to this, you can choose your choice, but you cannot choose your consequences.

The apostle Paul got down to specifics with respect to the pattern we should imitate, and the path we should avoid. He wrote; therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them (Ephesians 5:1-7).

I tell you, there is great value—and even the prospect of eternal reward—in taking the time to stop and ask yourself, “Am I walking on the right path? Am I headed toward a good end? Don’t be another Jehoram, [2 Chronicles 21] who knew the path to take but chose not to walk in the godly pathway that his father took. After all that he saw, he knowingly chose to follow the ungodly path of the wicked kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. And as a consequence of his choice, his end was the most pathetic and dishonorable of any of the other kings of Judah. His life story—and the end of it—is a great reminder to us that we must choose wisely the path we’ll walk before God; because—as invariably as night follows day—there are consequences to our choice.

I want you to know that in verse [12 of 2 Chronicles 12], it seems that the time finally came when God had enough of Jehoram’s unfaithful walk; “And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet . . .” (v. 12a). It was a letter that had all the authority of a word directly from God Himself; and here’s what it said: Thus says the LORD God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself, behold, the LORD will strike your people with a serious affliction—your children, your wives, and all your possessions; and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day (vv. 12-15). I tell you warning comes before destruction!

May God help us learn the hard lesson from the life of Jehoram; and choose to walk—all the way to the end—the path that leads to life!