The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins. 2 Peter 3:9
And in a vision the Lord said to him, “Hananyah!” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y’hudah’s house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha’ul; for he is praying, and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight.” Acts 9:10-12
Two different verses, two completely different messages from what the christian religions teach. The first one is about sin, and that we should all turn from our sin. In other words do not do it anymore. There are all kinds of verses from all the authors in the bible which tell us clearly to turn from sin and not do it anymore.. Including the Lord Yeshua himself telling many people when he healed them, “go and sin no more.”
On the other hand there is not even one verse which says it is OK to sin, God loves you and so it is OK with him and he understands. Or anything like this. There are vague verses which make it seem it is OK, or that can be twisted to make it work in that doctrine. But those same verses also work into the doctrine of stopping the sin in your life. But there are none which specifically say you can go on sinning and everything will be OK, God does not see it and has already forgiven it.
This peace of mind they give is a false peace, not the real peace Yeshua gives when you do turn from your ways and do things the way the Holy Spirit shows you to live. The Spirit of God always gives a way out of sin, he shows you your wrong doing and then gives a way to do it right. Then it is your decision to obey or not.
Which brings us to the second verse about Hananyah who heard Yeshua tell him to do something. That something was a very difficult request to honor because they all knew Paul was trying to kill them all or jail them. For him to go to Paul directly was a suicide mission. But he obeyed.
There are two secrets about being sin free. The first is we must hear and obey God. The second is to capture every thought and keep it attentive to God. These are not really secrets as they are written in scripture. But they seem a secret because no one seems to pay them any attention. And I would bet if I asked 100 christians if they know those verses, 99 would say they never heard them before. Especially the catholics who are advised to not read the bible.
When you become a true follower of Yeshua, that is hearing him and obeying him. Then these two verses start to make a lot of sense. Because how do you “quench the Spirit” if you do not know him and feel his presence in your life? There has to be communication in order to ignore a part of the message. For example how would I “quench the wisdom my dad gave me as an athlete if I never listened to him when he coached me?
The point is the same with both verses, it requires you to hear and listen and then do what you are told. This goes against human nature, because most people do not want to be told what to do. It is funny because I see most people these days going on social media and they only watch what they agree with. And then only repost what they agree with. I am guilty of the same thing, the only difference is I watch to see the results of the things I see. Is it bearing good or bad fruit? In other words, what are the results of the message? And I also check it with the Lord, although he does not always answer me because some of it has nothing to do with his way and Kingdom. Like money, it is a balancing act of sorts because with his wisdom you will be successful in business and money matters, and he speaks a lot about it as recorded in scripture. But money is worthless in his Kingdom and the next life. And he himself spent his years living in the streets with no job and no money to speak of.
The thing with God is more about trusting in the Father to provide for you, and you only doing what he says to do. But in doing what he says to do you will also be successful in your affairs., Show me one of the men of God who was not successful financially? Even Yeshua had all he needed and did not starve to death.
Which brings us to another point of how people do not understand the things of God. Because many speak of this all powerful and loving God, but then see people starving in the world, or what happened to the Jews in Natzi Germany. Or many other things over the years. And they do not understand how God could allow this to happen?
The simple answer, they did not hear God, and turn from their ways and obey him instead of their fleshly greedy, selfish desires. This is an example of how God changes us, he changes us from our selfish greedy fleshy desires of our heart into a man who is humble and meek in Spirit instead. The interesting part is most of us do not see ourselves like this, even a narcissist does not see himself as narcissistic. And if you do not let the Holy Spirit show you who you are, then the judgment is set, not in your favor. Because it is these selfish, greedy, controlling, fearful, and other emotional things that keeps us in the sin. It is not sin itself, it is the reason we stay in the sin because we do not want to see it in ourselves when the light of the Holy Spirit shows us it. So we find people who accept us for who we are and hang out with them because then there is no condemnation. Actually the condemnation is still there from the Holy Spirit, we just quench or ignore him, which is easy to do because it is just this thought or feeling deep inside we do not acknowledge. We know we should listen to the nudge yet we do not know we should. Everything and everyone is telling us not to, saying it is of the evil one and a good God would never condemn you like that. So we believe this lie, but deep down inside the Spirit is showing us it is wrong. And again it is the condemnation or your judgement. That the light came into the world, but man liked the darkness more than the light so they hid themselves. They quenched the Spirit, ignored him. The only one who can make you Holy as he is Holy. The only one who can teach you and give you the power to not sin anymore and live in a real peace with God.
But you want nothing to do with him because he cuts like a knife, a double edged sword, to the bone, separating the bone from the marrow and the Spirit from the Soul. Very few of us allow the Spirit of truth to do that to us, and then those who refuse are always vocal about how wrong we are in our doctrine. But it is very clear this is truth, and more so the results of it. I live a very different life these days than 20 years ago, one in peace and without any craziness to speak of. A boring life as it would be viewed by most. And it is a bit boring most of the time. But an amazingly boring life.
Which is another decision, do you want to be tossed to and fro like the waves of the ocean? Or sit on dry ground, built on the rock? I like my views from way up high overlooking the ocean and the white water waves crashing in, instead of being in it getting beaten up, all wet and dirty from the sand washing in all parts of my body. Not to mention the danger of getting hurt or even killed. Every year at least one person gets swept away by the waves.
This analogy is a good one for God and his Kingdom. Because God takes you off the ride on the waves, and lifts you high up in his wisdom, so you can see what you used to deal with and the dangers of it. It is definitely more fun in the crashing waves especially if you are a surfer, and more boring sitting and watching it. But a lot more peaceful up here, and amazing views you never get when in the water. Tur