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“They feared the LORD, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the custom of the nations where they had been deported from.” 2 Kings 17:33

I find this verse quite intriguing…to say the least.  It says that they feared the Lord, but that they continued to worship other gods.  And if you read the names of the gods in this chapter, you will see that they were abominable devils.  And please remember what God called these “other gods” in several other places in the Old Testament…”devils.”

So we could easily re-phrase this verse to read, “They feared the Lord, but they also worshipped their own DEVILS.”  These people that were doing this were actually worshipping devils.  They were breaking the very first of the 10 commandments, “Thou shall have no other gods before Me.”  So we can see that the fear of God that they said they had was really no real fear of God at all.  They just said it with their mouths, but their hearts were far from God. 

In Acts chapter seven, Stephen makes a profound statement (actually the Holy Spirit makes the statement through Stephen) when he uses the phrase “the church in the wilderness.”  The Greek word here for “church” is the same Greek word for “church” used throughout the New Testament.

This revelation is one of the deepest revelations in all of scripture which shows God’s view of who the children of Israel really were.  In His mind, they were “the church.” So now we can see a very deep truth; and that truth is that we are just like them.  We are a mirror image of who they were, and where they were going.

They were “the church in the wilderness” heading towards the Promised Land.  And along the way they rebelled against God, they tempted God, they provoked God to anger with their many sins and murmurings.  Stephen said in this same chapter, “in their hearts they turned back to Egypt.” 

I’m afraid that some who are even reading this today have turned back to Egypt in their hearts.  They have gone back into the world (Egypt being a type-and-shadow of the world) and to the pleasures of sin for a season.  Just as a dog returns to its vomit, the scriptures says.  Sin(s)(ing) is more important to them then loving God and serving Him in Godly fear. 

They didn’t really fear God, for if they had they would not have sinned against him.  The bible says, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.”  I meet so many people  (even ministers) who say they fear God…but at the end of the day they really don’t.  It’s easy to tell.  Their heart gives them away as well as their words.  Because they do not hate evil.  So please, if you don’t hate and abhor evil, don’t say that you fear God.  Because you don’t.  Only the hypocrites say this. 

If you’re involved in sin, sins, or sinning…then don’t you dare even say you love God; for you are taking the Lord’s name in vain by your living and by your hypocrisy.  Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I would have become a Christian if I hadn’t met one.”  I just dealt with this issue again yesterday.  A man said, “I have never met a Christian who isn’t immoral…what they have is fake.”  This is sad.  This comes from a man who was really looking at Christian’s for an answer, and all that he saw was fakeness, and falsehood.  He saw nothing genuine.

I’ve become very bold lately in telling people in my meetings that they don’t love God if they are sinning, and living however they please.  If they (if you) are not obeying the word of God and living a holy life behind closed doors and in your heart and mind, then you are not a Christian according to the New Testament.  You’re a tare growing up with the wheat.  And Jesus Himself said that you don’t love Him.  I didn’t write the bible, He did.

Because if someone really fears God, they will be scared to death to commit willful sin!!!  It says in 1 Kings 3:3 that “Solomon loved the LORD by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”  Notice that he walked in the statutes that he was taught…but he loved his devils too.  He struggled with these devils his entire life, and ultimately they was his downfall…naturally and eternally speaking. 

Hear what God says to him in 1 Kings 11:11 RSV, “Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.”

In other words, Solomon had made up his mind to serve these devils, and no amount of council from God or others was going to sway him.  And God gave him over to a reprobate mind, and it says that even in his old age he was worshipping these devils.  He did not make it.  Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles were written when Solomon was much younger.  Just read then real quick with that in mind and you will see the references to his youth.  He wrote these under the anointing and the spirit of wisdom that was upon him.  But he died in his sins and went to hell.

Just because a man has a gift to help others does not guarantee that he will make it.  Even Paul said in 1 Cor. 9:27, “But I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.”  Most translations use the word “castaway” – while other translations use the word “disqualified.”  Paul saw the truth, and that truth is that the gifts of the Spirit, and the anointing of God upon your life are not a sure guarantee that you will automatically make it.

Paul said in Acts 20:31 that he had warned everyone in Ephesus with many tears night and day for the space of three years.  

I know a man who has seen and spoken with angels on numerous occasions, he has seen devils on many occasions, he has seen the Lord, and has heard His voice just as Solomon had and just as Paul had, he has various gifts of the Spirit operating in his ministry, he has been caught up in the Spirit on many occasions, he’s had visions that would blow your mind, he has preached to thousands of people here and abroad, and many other things that I cannot even speak of. 

But if he was to live his life unto himself and commit iniquity, and presume upon the grace of God, and die in his sins, he would be joining Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini,  Judas, Solomon, and millions of other hypocrites who thought that because they knew the Lord at one time and walked in spiritual things and helped other people come to know the Lord, that they would be okay regardless of how they lived their lives.

They died totally deceived, presuming upon the grace of God.  They thought that God’s grace was a “license for immorality.”  I have news for you, you will be cast away if this is your thinking.  Because people live according to what and how they perceive things. 

To fear God is healthy.  Hebrews 10:31 says, “It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  One translation says “dreadful.”

God will only have holy children in His kingdom.  Case closed – no room for discussion.  This is what He said in His word…do with it as you so choose.  But He distinctly said in Revelation 21 that only people who are holy and undefiled can enter in to His kingdom.  He said in Revelation 22 that only those who kept His commandments can even enter through the gates into His city.

Do not be deceived my beloved brethren, no unclean person who loves a lie or lives a lie has any part in the kingdom of God.  For His kingdom is holy, and His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. You cannot “fear God” and serve your other gods.  Gods of entertainment, gods of fleshly passions, gods of selfishness, gods of sports, and a hundred other American gods that people worship and devote their time, resources, and love to.  You cannot serve two different gods…for you will love the one and hate the other.  There is no in-between ground.  

If you want to continue in your sin, sins, and sinning…then know this…you will split hell wide open and spend eternity in the regions of the damned, never again to have a second chance.  There’s actually a portion of scripture written especially for you, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.”  And the Lord Jesus Himself said that your portion would be with the hypocrites.  You have done it to yourself.  The responsibility for your soul rests entirely in your own hand.  Psalm 119:109

But for those of you who really love Him and fear Him…immortality, honor, blessing, and eternal life with the Father shall rest upon you and will be your portion, lot, memorial, and inheritance forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever!!

I love you deeply, dearly, and sincerely and you will do well to remember that the time is at hand. Redeem it. Remain faithful. Love the brethren. Let us continue in the good works of helping our brethren along on this path of light and everlasting glory, which we are sure to inherit.  May our faith be extended towards them, as He has extended His faith towards us in His Son.  And may the eternal manifestation of His Son in the light of His glory be shown to us and in us.  For of a truth I say, that it is He who sought us out and found us who were prisoners in a world of darkness; and brought us out by the hand and delivered us out of the hand of our enemy.  To Him, the ONLY WISE POTENTATE, the Ancient of Days, and the Wheel within the Wheel be everlasting praise and thanksgiving for time immortal.  Amen

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Phil. 2:12