“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. 10:13)
To be able to bear it, to stand up under it, to escape from it. In other words, in the area of temptations, we must make some form of concerted effort, we are not pushed away from the temptation, it is not removed from our presence, we either acquiesce to it, or we flee from it, there is no third option.
A slow progression of acceptable forms of sin has always been the path of this world of Satan’s, he tempts, we are shown a way out, and then we decide whether to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, or we reject them. This is one of the ways that we will be held accountable for our actions, or inactions in this life. Satan can force nothing on a child of the Most High God, and God is not going to remove those temptations to sin from our mind, not in this life.
Those progressions are growing stronger exponentially in these days we live in, the hedges are being lowered and what was considered evil not ten or twenty years ago, but just perhaps a few months ago is now being purported to be good, to be acceptable, and those who have been born-again are not immune to these truths.
It is difficult to believe, yet it is true, that there are places that call themselves churches that not only marry homosexuals, but are led by them, that people are being allowed to steal because of a perceived personal need they have, that crimes against someone’s feelings are being held up in the courts, the list is almost endless. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
It was not the fallacy of the supposed pandemic that called my attention to these matters, I have known for many decades that the majority of mankind is easily led around, Job 2:4 has always been a truth. “And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” But the lack of an audible cry of protest from those who claim Christ as Lord is not just mildly annoying, it is in itself a sin, and beyond disrespectful to the One we call Lord and Savior. “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” (Psalm 94:16) And “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
These are two verses that come to the forefront of my thoughts here. By not participating in those now open and many times welcomed by society temptations, these sins, we stand for the glory of God and give Him the praise for that way of escape, but do we sin against Him, or at the very least grieve the Holy Spirit by not speaking up against them in public. And here I do not mean in just that building with a cross in it that you attend once a week, I mean out there amongst the masses during the entirety of the week.
“And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” (Matt. 3:2) is not heard often, not even on those social media sites that still allow the Word of God and His will to be spoken, how to be a better Christian is, how to avoid those temptations on a personal level may occasionally be preached, but standing up against the ever-growing sin of this world will now get you sued, or cause some other form of personal loss. And so those that consider themselves “Christians” remain silent, or at best speak in hushed tones in the relative safety of that building they attend with a cross on it somewhere.
I have been, by the wisdom of God, shown the truth of this matter, as many others have, the days that are approaching cannot and will not be stopped, the days of Jacob’s Troubles are nearly upon us. There is an old saying that fits here, “Either fight or get out of the way.” I fear that many who claim Jesus Christ have decided that silence is the safest way in these days, and I can find nowhere in the Scriptures that reveals this as a truth, or in the will of God for those who say they serve Him.
