Tag: shame

Another Cure For AIDS

Source: Creation Moment Blog

We hear of the effort to find another cure for AIDS. 

AIDS has become most famous among the numerous Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s). About 44 million people have died worldwide of AIDS, roughly 600,000 annually in recent years. In Africa, AIDS was the leading cause of death for 30-49-year-olds in 2019. Medical treatment for one infected person in the United States costs a whopping $20,000–$50,000 annually, and is required indefinitely for however long the rest of that person’s life lasts.

These facts can frighten a person. However, AIDS cannot come and suddenly get you like a drunk driver crossing the center line. In fact, unless you refuse the first cure, you cannot sexually acquire any disease. Someone may say, “I have heard of the terror of AIDS, but nothing of a cure. Is it some exotic thing?” You don’t hear a peep about the cure for AIDS in today’s secularized America because it comes from God. Romans 1:20-28 tells us the lost world is not thankful to God, does not acknowledge Him fully from the clear evidence of the creation, nor does it wish to retain Him in their knowledge.

So what is God’s cure for AIDS? Sexual purity: abstinence until marriage followed by lifelong monogamy with one’s spouse.

From Romans 1:20-28, because of deliberate repudiation of God, God “gave them up to uncleanness”, and to “vile affections”, and to “a reprobate mind”, “men… burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of the error which was meet.” 

The Scripture clearly lays out the consequences of allowing lust to reign freely and outside of the design of our Holy Maker when it says “receiving in themselves”. And elsewhere there are warnings and guidance in Scripture for a sure cure for AIDS and other STD’s.

“Flee fornication…he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9-18 

“Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found with child… Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.” – Matthew 1:18 & 19

“You shall not commit adultery.” – Exodus 20:14 & Deuteronomy 5:18

“The scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery… Jesus said to her, ‘…go and sin no more’.” – John 8:3-11

God designed the sexual relationship to occur between one man and one woman for their lifetime. So we see Scripture forbidding sexual relations between unwed people (fornication) and married persons with someone besides their spouse (adultery).

Let’s look at the benefits of God’s cure for AIDS.

  1. God’s cure for AIDS is 100% effective to protect a person and to destroy the very disease. Consider the way sexually transmitted diseases are spread. You have to sleep with more than one person to pass on an STD. If you do not sleep with more than one person, it is impossible to pass on an STD. A disease cannot perpetuate which never gets handed on between hosts that die of old age. If mankind obeyed its Creator’s design for the sexual relationship, not only would they not catch and give STDs, but there would be no such thing as an STD to catch.
  2. God’s cure for AIDS is inexpensive; it is FREE. Yes, economic status, not even the most severe poverty, can keep God’s cure for AIDS out of any person’s grasp.
  3. God’s cure for AIDS has complete availability. You don’t have to go to a country where regulations allow its use. You don’t have to locate the clinic. You don’t have to even travel 5 minutes to the corner pharmacy!
  4. God’s cure for AIDS has zero detrimental side effects. This is amazing to the pharmaceutical world because people’s bodies are unique and react differently to a drug. Therefore, we hear the rambling list of potential side effects at the end of drug commercials. Often a person is taking secondary medication to counteract the side effects of a primary medicine. Not with God’s cure for AIDS; nobody will get a hole in their heart valve, diarrhea, or even a mild headache.
  5. God’s cure for AIDS has huge beneficial side effects. Have you ever heard of a cure like this? God’s cure for AIDS also prevents Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Herpes, and Chlamydia. In fact, it is the cure for every single one of the 30+ sexually transmitted diseases of which AIDS is just a small percentage. But that’s not all. Chastity decreases divorce. Did you know that those who cohabit before marriage have a higher divorce rate? Sexual purity is also a hedge against murder. We have read how King David had Uriah killed to cover his adultery with Bathsheba. This is repeated over and over today. Two people have illicit sex, a pregnancy results, they murder the baby and pretend it never happened (over a million babies a year in the U.S.). God offers us a way to never have to be in that situation. Chastity removes shame and increases self-esteem. For the person interested in mental wellness, unhindered in happiness and productivity by worry and distraction, God’s plan for sexuality can’t be beat!

Does God love us or what?! When I think of the good things He gives us, it just makes me want to shout “Hallelujah!” – to give us such a great cure for AIDS, and like the gospel, it is free. Just as with freedom from eternal judgment, God made it so anyone is capable of being free from AIDS – simply by believing Him. 

God has given this wonderful cure for AIDS because He loves us, not because He is a killjoy who wants to keep us from having fun (the same lie the devil says about smoking, drugs, or eating the fruit in the garden of Eden).

Why does the world reject a cure that sounds so great, and say there is no cure for AIDS? “Why do the nations rage… Against the Lord, and against His anointed?” – Psalm 2:1,2.

The unbelieving world’s response to Christ’s authority is told to us in the parable of Luke 19:14, “We will not have this man to reign over us”. All (aside from victims of rape, perinatal transmission, blood-to-blood contact, etc.) infected with STD’s, sadly, have rejected the 1st cure from God. John 10:10 tells us that the devil, who deceived them into doing so, has murder as one of his only 3 motives – “steal and kill and destroy.” Whereas the same verse goes on to tell us the Lord Jesus came, that by Him we may “have life, and have it more abundantly!”

The endeavor for another, a second cure for AIDS marches on. Well over $200 billion has been spent globally on HIV/AIDS research, but no cure. Wow! What about a cure for the stubbornly rebellious human heart?

Thank God He is merciful, and as His offer of a cure for AIDS is still extended to us, so is His offer of the Savior Jesus Christ! Romans 5:8 tells us, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. The Old Testament speaks prophetically of life in the Savior: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come, buy and eat, Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” – Isaiah 55:1 

BibleWorldview

Posted by Glen Reidhaar

Glen Reidhaar is a contributor to Creation Moments. He holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Idaho (magna cum laude, Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society). He is a licensed Professional Engineer who has worked for more than three decades in aluminum smelting, semiconductor substrate, automotive, and laser printers. Glen is also an inventor, with 29 United States patents to date.

He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior on May 12, 1996. Glen is on Answers in Genesis’ list of Modern Creation Scientists and is a 10-year volunteer at their Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky. He is a husband of over 28 years and a father of two boys. In his free time, Glen enjoys creating thought-provoking creation videos, which you can find on our audience-submitted videos page. 

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Two Different Preachers with Two Different Goals

Two different preachers came once to my country of Nigeria to preach two radically different sermons.

The first preacher gave his sermon to a large crowd that gathered for the crusade, many of whom dropped huge amounts of money on the altar. Many who were excited about the sermon removed their expensive gold bracelets, necklaces, and wristwatches and dropped them on the altar. A woman whose husband lives abroad brought the car key that her husband bought for her and gave it to the preacher.

The second preacher preached a sermon to the same people, and all the attendees fell on their knees and cried out to God for mercy. Many of them who had money in their pockets removed them and dropped it on the altar. Even criminals and robbers went back home, collected their ill-gotten money, and brought it back as an offering.

What could be responsible for these different reactions from the same people? It is important to note that both preachers preached from the same Bible, but the spirits behind the messages were not the same, and the goals of the two preachers were completely different. The first preacher wanted to unlock the wallets of his listeners while the second preacher wanted the hearts of his listeners to provoke repentance.

“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19). The first preacher belongs to the category of pastors who focus on earthly things and teach their followers to give so that they can be healed and become rich. Their god is not the God of the Bible but their belly. They do not have a passion for soul-winning, rather they concentrate all their energy on working to get more money from their listeners.  

The second preacher sacrificially hazarded his life and worked tirelessly to bring souls to the Kingdom of God. Men like him preach Christ and Him crucified. Men like him want to ensure that sinners come to the saving knowledge of Christ. Every one of their sermons is geared towards provoking repentance. Their messages prick the hearts of the hearers for total surrender to the saving power of Christ. The more people hear the messages of this category of preachers, the more they grow in grace and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ.

“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:37-38). The sermon that pricks the heart is biblical and saves and spiritually transforms lives — but the sermon that unlocks the wallet is unbiblical, destructive, and feeds the flesh.

Every Christian should soberly examine the messages which he or she listens to. Do the messages unlock your wallet, or do they prick your heart? Honest answers to this question will help you guard your soul from wolves in sheep’s clothing. Sermons that do not edify, correct and rebuke you will inevitably take you far away from God.

God has given to every minister of the Gospel the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). Any contrary ideology is either from man or the devil. All preachers should be focused on preaching Christ not Mammon. We cannot serve two masters at the same time (Mathew 6:24). Remember these truths, friends.

There is no repentance in the grave.

Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.  

Source: The Christian Post

Awake Up

“Awake up righteously, and sin not; for some have no knowledge of God: I speak this to move you to shame.” 1st Corinthian 15:34 (KJV)

Paul is writing to the Corinthian believers about the Corinthian believers. The “some” are not the unbelievers on the streets of Corinth who do not know God and run to idols but Paul is addressing those in the church who were teaching the error of no resurrection of the believer’s physical body.

Amid the assembly of believers there were those who had “no knowledge of God”.  Sounds like an oxymoron, a Christian believer with no knowledge of God.  In the Greek “no knowledge” does not mean “mere ignorance” (agnoia) but “reprehensible ignorance” (Vines).  They were not just lacking facts, but they were guilty before God for their own sloth (spiritual apathy and inactivity) and slight of God.

How do we slight God? They were guilty of treating God with indifference, treating His revealed will and ways as something of truly little importance, and pursuing their spiritual growth and relationship with Him in a careless manner.

The Amplified Bible puts it this way:

“…for some of you have not the knowledge of God [ you are utterly and willfully and disgracefully ignorant, and continue to be so, lacking the sense of God’s presence and all true knowledge of Him]. I say this to your shame.”  (emphasis added)

Denying the resurrection was giving evidence of this type of ignorance in some of the people.

Are we guilty of slighting God?  Are we living our lives in a manner that displays indifference to God’s will and ways, considers them of little importance and pursuing our spiritual growth and our Kingdom of God responsibilities in a careless manner?  Are we “gathering” with the Lord Jesus or “scattering”?

Not everyone in the Corinth Church believed this error. The “you “ in the latter part of the Scripture refers to the whole body of believers in Corinth. Paul is saying that because they pride themselves on their wisdom and intelligence, the spread of this error in their midst “displayed their culpable inability to recognize the character and power of God” (Henry). For this, the whole body should be ashamed, experience grief or inward pain because they now realized that they did not measure up to what they thought they were, in God’s eyes.

And herein is the danger of our walking in pride.

 In the first half of the Scripture Paul tells them “Awake up righteously, and sin not…”.

Their pride, rooted in their perceived wisdom and intelligence, had put them in a state of spiritual stupefaction. A state where the saint experiences a profound spiritual drowsiness or stupor. They had drunk deeply of the poison, their delusional pride, by comparing themselves among themselves and measuring themselves by themselves and not measuring themselves against God’s standard. Oh, how we need to heed Paul’s admonition in 1st Corinthians 10: 12 “…let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”.

This produced in the church a state of spiritual lethargy where they were devoid of spiritual energy and interest. They had grieved (Ephesians 4:30) and quenched (1st Thessalonians 5:19) the Holy Spirit with their pride.  He is the Giver of the desire and will “to work for His good pleasure”.  (Philippians 2:13) His ministry was stopped by the pride in their lives. Now the Church was not a place of spiritual edification but a place of danger for the saints.  God now opposed them (James 4:6)!!!

Therefore, Paul commands them “Awake up righteously and stop sinning…”. The NASB says “Become sober minded as you ought and stop sinning,”. The Amplified Bible says “Awake [from your drunken stupor and return] to sober sense and your right minds, and sin no more.”

 Matthew Henry (1700s) says:

“Rouse yourselves, break off your sins by repentance: renounce and forsake every evil way, correct whatever is amiss, and do not by sloth and stupidity, be led away into such conversation and principles that will sap your Christian hopes, and corrupt your practice.”

This is what the Holy Spirit is telling the Corinthians through the pen of Paul.

What saith we? Do we see ourselves in Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian believers? Oh, Father God remove the blinders of pride from our understanding that keeps us in darkness.

Do we need to wake up, to rouse ourselves, to become sober minded about our spiritual state?  Have we quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit in our life?  Have we stopped the rivers of living water (John 7:38) that are supposed to flow out of our innermost being and replaced it with a muddy slough of arrogance, self-indulgence, and worldly ways from our carnal nature.

Are we slighting God?

If the rapture of the believers happened today and we, in the twinkling of an eye, went from earth to His presence, what would be in our hand, in our mind and in our heart?  Would we be ashamed of what He caught us doing, thinking about, and craving for?

 It is going to happen one day. Let us be sober minded. Get right (with God) and ready (to stand in His Presence).

Believer, the Judgement Seat of Christ is also drawing closer. Are you ready to stand before your Savior and give an account of what you have done in this earthly life? Are we ready to receive our rewards or will we suffer loss ….for eternity?

Will He have to “wake us up” for the momentous occasion?

May Paul’s words to Timothy move us to self-examination in the light of His Word:

“Pay close attention to yourself…” (1st Timothy 4:16)

With repentance, love, and concern for the Church,

Carl