1/6/16

slay the wicked


"Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God..."  (Psalm 139:19).  

"[God] shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked" (Psalm 11:4).

I believe it was Aimee Semple McPherson who, before she would come forth to preach, used to pray: "Slay them, O Lord, every one of them!  Cut them down like the grass!"

My goodness!  That kind of praying and preaching, these days, would get the minister thrown out on the street!  Today, church leaders practically climb over top of each other trying, with every sort of church-growth strategy and promotional gimmick, to entice the wicked to "come just as you are" to church; where they are then told, "God loves you just as you are".  And no one is the least bit surprised (much less are they at all disturbed) when those same, unsaved persons come and go week after week to church without ever suffering anything like real, Holy Ghost conviction.  America is overrun with churches wherein the "blind lead the blind, and they both shall fall into the ditch".  That is to say, they all (such churches, their leaders and members together) are going to hell.

I can almost hear the whining now: "You're intolerant!  You're such a hater!  Christians are supposed to love sinners, not pray that God will slay them!" https://youtu.be/cIqu9b0iCLA

If you took the time to watch that video, did you hear (ahem...) "pastor" Steven Furtick insist (@ 01:10 time mark), that "the Spirit is love, the Spirit is peace, the Spirit is kindness"?  His video is full of that "spirit"; don't you agree?  Preachers like him (and there are many,) are leading the way in showing others how to grow their very own mega-churches, by "loving" sinners all the way... into the Lake of Fire.

"Slay the wicked, O God!" (Psalm 139:19).  "[I]n thine anger cast down the people, O God" (Psalm 56:7).  Who was it, in the Bible, that spoke such words as those?  Both of those quotations were from the pen of the Psalmist--that is, of the prophet David, whom the Bible says he was "a man after God's own heart"; and, who, by the way, he wrote those verses of Scripture by and through inspiration of the Holy Ghost.  

Let me get right to the point: 100% of sinners have already been judged and sentenced to death--and NOT ONE of them can by any means escape damnation!  God himself is going to destroy every UNREPENTANT sinner, in the Lake of Fire.  Only, by the grace of God and Christ, those who WILL REPENT while they yet live in this present world, can, through the miracle of what the Bible calls the "new birth", they can actually die--and, then (in that same moment), receive a brand new life--that is, the very life of the Spirit of Jesus Christ!  That is what the Bible calls "being born again" (John 3:3-21; 1Peter 1:23).

Thus we know that every sinner must die.  Either he must (in this life) be put to death by means of being "crucified with Christ," or, else, he must in the world to come, be destroyed in the Lake of Fire.  Is it not so?

Why, then, do we not preach that as the Gospel truth?  Why do we withhold from warning sinners that they must die?  And why, also, should we not then pray with our whole heart, that God will "slay the wicked"?  Is it because that we are willing for the wicked--that is to say, the unrighteous sinner--to continue to work iniquity in the earth and, so, persist to trouble and defile God's Creation?  Are we so without understanding, that we do not desire that everything that is against God's Kingdom should be forever removed out of it?  Or, are we so timid in the face of Satan's children (as Jesus calls sinners; John 8:44) that we will not unsheath the Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) wherewith they may be brought so much to fear the "second death" that they will choose to themselves the "first death," instead, and, so, surrender up that wicked person they have been, to be crucified with Christ on the cross of Calvary?

Every sinner must die.  Not one sinner may ever go to Heaven.  And it is every Christian's duty to inform sinners of their doom.  (That is why the world hates Christians.  That is also why most Christians know nothing about suffering persecution: because, they dare not speak the truth to sinners.)

The word "Gospel" means "good news".  Of course, it is not good news to sinners, when they hear of their certain destruction.  Ah, but, then, the message of God's mercy and grace in Jesus Christ, appears as very good news!  But only when the message of Christ is set over against the warning of eternal damnation, is the love of God in Christ revealed to be--as it is in truth--something vastly different from a sentimental pillow upon which the weary sinner (whenever he so desires) may rest his hung-over head for a season, until his conscience subsides a bit.

The message of God's grace, and of the suffering of Jesus Christ, has been prostituted for far too long, by multitudes who "profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate" (Titus 1:16).

I've written it, before: that, in order to receive genuine Revival, requires that genuine--that is, Biblical preaching must first be restored to and through the Body of Christ.  I believe God is doing just that.

In my spirit I hear the cry of one tearfully pleading with God: "Thrust in your sharp sickle, O Christ!  And slay the wicked, Lord, every one of them!  Cut them down like wheat in the fields!"

And your servants will glory in your great power, when we shall joyfully gather the sheaves into your barns!

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