Bible Discussion Thread

If Jesus comes to get His bride in the Catching away and you are living in fornication will Jesus take us

Keep your lamps filled.

1 Corinthians 7, says to get married. If you don't want to marry the man you're with...but do hope to get married some day... I hope your someday husband isn't sleeping around too. See the thought?

We have to follow Jesus on the narrow road. Sexual impurity is a ditch. You know to do right, but you are stuck in this ditch of compromise.

Climb out, chin up, and have that conversation with your guy and find out once and for all, if he's your forever husband or not.

I know this sounds so harsh and I do not mean to hurt your feelings. I do understand. Many of us have been in that ditch. I can say with great conviction that following Jesus brings great joy in the end. I'll pray for you tonight.

I must reply with a question, in reverse: would the 'Christian' living in fornication actually be a part of His bride? There are too many today who believe they are Christians going to Heaven (whether from their own imaginations or false teaching), yet they resemble the world of the sin-ridden, rather than the Holy Spirit infilled children of God.

"God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Galatians 6:7,8.

"but (the Lord) is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.

Paul's stern word is to: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" 2 Corinthians 13:5.

So hope remains to the misguided 'Christian' that he or she may turn from sin now, truly repent & seek the abundant forgiveness of the Lord. "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:6,7.

Chris, When I was a new Christian (born again) and before my marriage I had a year and a half of what I thought was a successful separation of willing sin in my life until one day I fell. As far as I know I never so it coming. It was like in one second I decided to return to my old life. Within a few hours I realized how far I had fallen and wanted repentance and restoration and yet my flesh was re-awakened. Satan attacked this little lamb and really it was the help of the brethren particularly elders that helped me return to the fold. I was outwardly separated by the Church as it was proven that my sin was too grievous until I had found forgiveness. This was lovingly and carefully done with me. The desire to be restored in the brotherhood was immediate but I had to fight my flesh for several months. Finally I persevered turned from the sin and found forgiveness from Jesus and had the peace of the Holy Spirit again leading my life. Soon thereafter I was restored in the church at a different location due to work than the one where I was separated from (there was communication between the two regarding my repentance experience). I learned that Satan is always ready to devour and Jesus and his bride are always ready to restore. Within a year and a half of this experience I was married in the Lord and have had the grace to remain faithful from willing sin till this day many years later. I am not sure how it would have gone if I had not had the brethren by their very lives of peace and joy before me to convict me enough that I could not stay in deception and feed my flesh. When my brethren first found out of my fall which I immediately brought forward my loving elder told me in simple words "first things first" and I knew what he meant, no excuses. I had been once bought for a price and I needed to honor that commitment to Jesus and his bride again at any cost to my pride and for for my eternal life to be continued in Him.

Thank you Carleton - that was a very telling testimony of retrieval from the clutches of sin. And praise God for those elders who assisted in your rescue & restoration. And so it is, for all who are beguiled by Satan & find themselves in his clutches, the Lord does all things possible by His Spirit & through godly men & circumstances, to alert us to the folly of our ways. The Lord gave you a loving assembly family who were quick to fish you out of the snare - many others flounder around for months or years, making shipwreck of their faith, dishonouring the Lord.

But when one knows the wrong & continues to persist in it, enjoying it & finding no conviction of such a lifestyle in the Light of God's Holiness & the Cross of Christ, hoping that the Lord would overlook it at His Coming, that to me is a great stretch of 'undeserved unlimited Grace'. It is then any wonder that those of us (= me) who believe in the 'eternal security of the believer' are often labelled as 'those who promote or allow licentious living while under such Grace', or being in support of "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" ( Romans 5:20). Our hearts must never be allowed to get so hardened in sin or a sinful lifestyle that the Spirit's Light can no longer be seen or felt.

Dear Chris, I love to read your writing as so many do. Thank you. Yesterday morning I received an email from my Nigerian brother/minister. His thoughts were on grace and faith, the mind and the heart. Grace is available to turn the mind to the condition of the heart where God can dwell in His believing children. All works of faith must happen and remain happening in the heart. We can challenge that faith by our willingness to search our hearts for uncleanness of any kind. This faith because of grace allows Christ Jesus by the comforter, the Holy Ghost in a born again believer to be sanctified continually while time remains in sinful flesh. As Christians we cannot shun this grace or avoid it in our hearts which we know as our souls which are eternal either unto life or death. Meanwhile we also have the mind, there is grace for the mind to believe and hear and have faith. But God dwells in the heart. Our true faith must be in the heart and we accept His grace to gently turn our minds to the living faith at Calvary in our hearts. We have a responsibility as Christians to protect the mind in its thoughts and actions by casting out evil imaginations which are common to all of Adam's descendants . So faith by our mind should only be considered a reasonable service to protect the faith and grace and Finished work at Calvary in our hearts. Eternal Security requires this living faith (God's Dwelling) and the mind turned to the heart. Our minds can turn our hearts to lasciviousness if our faith is in control of our minds. Likely, something like this happened to me way back then because I failed to understand how powerful Satan is related to faith by the mind and how he wants to challenge the finished Work of Jesus Christ in the hearts of the simple believing children. When we are attacked by the ally of the flesh by the evil one we must have a place of refuge as there is no place to hide except in the heart where salvation has taken place where security is everlasting.

Thank you brother Carleton, for sharing that very deep, thought-provoking message; I had to read it several times to properly comprehend it.

The 'heart' of course is such an immaterial concept, so we who live in a see/touch dimension find it difficult to understand & identify. I can best equate it to the residence of our spirit and to which place, the Holy Spirit is also found in all those who believe. And even though the Spirit continues to affect our spirits in many ways to the end of forming "Christ in us", sadly our minds tend to run riot at times, entertaining fleshly pursuits, affecting our spirit. And so the continual urging to "be renewed in the spirit of your mind" ( Ephesians 4:23) & Romans 12:2: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" must be our constant pursuit.

And if being "carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" ( Romans 8:6), our minds must be specially affected by the Holy Spirit - and for that to happen, we put away sins in the mind & invite the Spirit to replace them with all that is pure & holy. And even in our struggles in the flesh, we know that "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" ( Philippians 2:13) & that work will never cease for it is God's Will & for His Joy for our holiness & bearing His Son's Image.

That we can be made alike in Him as brothers in Christ to the point that separation in the flesh hurts brother Chris.

Again, thank you for your help in guiding our thoughts and the scriptures together.

brother Carleton