Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.  (Matthew 7:13-14)

              Hide it...Quickly!

              or

              Just Kidding

              or


              Hide it...Quickly!    A squishy, love-them-through-their-sins message which doesn't include instruction in holiness ("being set apart") or a call to repentance.  I'm okay, you're okay.  Liberty as a license to sin.

              Just Kidding! ;-)   Aw, God didn't really mean that.

              Tolerance   The ecumenical movement.  Linking arms with apostate religions.  Unified, but not by sound doctrine, because anything goes.  Calling oneself or an entire religion "Christian" does not necessarily a disciple of Jesus Christ make.  If John 3:16 is the only important passage in the Bible, God wasted a lot of time and space--what a blasphemous thought.  Was Jesus "tolerant" of sinfulness?

              It's hard to stick one's neck out into an atmosphere of ecumenism.  We all know we should do it--say what God says--but we also realize that the world and even some churches are teaching, even demanding, tolerance.  In a nation where tolerance is a loudly beaten drum, courage and a willingness to suffer verbal persecution are required if one is to speak the Truth.

              Love and tolerance are not synonymous.  It's not very loving to tolerantly stay mute when an unbeliever or a brother or sister in the Lord is dashing down a path which leads to destruction.  A family member, a friend, a neighbor, a fellow church member, an entire religion may be ignorant of God's teachings or have been hornswaggled by the enemy into believing false doctrine, false tenets of an apostate religion, a watered-down or altogether different gospel. Who will tell them what God says?

              There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
              but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.
              (Proverbs 14:12)

              Tolerance is for all but those who say what the Most High God says when it's hardest to say--when it's meat and potatoes rather than milk.  I'm okay--you're okay...unless you make me uncomfortable by telling me what God says and areas in my life don't conform to God's ways.  Oh, what a grip the devil has on God's children by building an unholy union with one little word--tolerance.  It's become at least as effective a bushel as "don't judge!" under which we can timidly shove our candles.  But we know what will happen when we put a candle under a basket--a hefty fire will erupt, and great and far-reaching may be the resulting damage.  You know, I'm not okay, and you're probably not okay either.  That's why we need a Saviour!  I'm loved and you're loved.  And we want to be okay.  "Okay" is what God says is okay--not what tickles my ears.

              Just how tolerant is Jesus?  He is merciful, longsuffering, loving, but certainly not tolerant of sin.  He did not display tolerance when He turned over the tables in the temple.  He did not display tolerance when he condemned the religious people adhering to the traditions of men.  He did not display tolerance when He cast devils from people.  He did not display tolerance when He said do this and this and this and...; do not do this and this and this and....  He did not display tolerance when He spoke the following words.  Please read this passage carefully, looking for tolerance:

              Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever.  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.  I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.  Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word.  Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.  And because I tell [you] the truth, ye believe me not.  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?  He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear [them] not, because ye are not of God.  (John 8:31-47)
              When was the Lord Jesus Christ tolerant?  For He was, and we may correctly use that word to describe Him.  He was tolerant when he was belittled, berated, betrayed, hated, spat upon, stripped of His clothes, beaten, and nailed to a cross for speaking the truth of God the Father.  The tolerance which Jesus taught and teaches today is the tolerance which must be exercised by those who speak the Truth and are judged with unrighteous judgment or suffer persecution for it.

              Am I therefore become your enemy,
              because I tell you the truth?
              Galatians 4:16

              The tolerance which the world teaches emanates from the Father of Lies.

              THE TOLERANCE WHICH JESUS TEACHES IS A WILLINGNESS TO BE JUDGED AND SHUNNED AND PERSECUTED FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH, FOR SAYING WHAT GOD SAYS, and to go on loving and walking by faith.

              Sisters, be tolerant.  Be tolerant when others hold you in derision as you stand up for Christ.  Be tolerant when you suffer for the cause of Christ.  Be tolerant when others need a gentle, guiding hand to lead them to the Truth.  Never exercise tolerance in the face of sin, lies, heresy, apostasy.  If those who call themselves Believers refuse the pure Word of God, perhaps they should go before the throne of God and ask that He reveal if there be any wicked way in their hearts. The Bible is God's Word and true--every single word of it.

              Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.  James 5:20

              Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Matthew 7:21

              Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.  Leviticus 20:7

              As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  I Peter 1:14-16

              And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them].  Ephesians 5:11

              But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24

              Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen...  Jeremiah 10:2

              This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.  Joshua 1:8

              I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; [it] shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me:  I will not know a wicked [person].  Psalm 101:3-4

              Know therefore this day, and consider [it] in thine heart, that the Lord he [is] God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: [there is] none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong [thy] days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. Deuteronomy 4:39-40

              Thou hast commanded [us] to keep thy precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.  Psalm 119:4-6

              Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and [that it may be] well with you, and [that] ye may prolong [your] days in the land which ye shall possess.  Deuteronomy 5:32-33

              Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.  Deuteronomy 13:4

              Hath the Lord [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.  1 Samuel 15:22

              Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

              He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.
              John 14:23-24

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