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CONVICTED A CHRISTIAN

by Duane Huffstutler  
3/31/2010 / Christian Living

CONVICTED A CHRISTIAN

I want to ask you a question. I know that most of you have already heard the question and we thought it to be cute and even laughed about the question. I am not looking for a laugh, I am very serious and I want you to seriously look deep inside of you and examine yourself. When I was growing up we had time to play games with our walk with the Lord, and I did. I am not proud of the games that I played, but I have to answer for them. We don't have time to play games anymore. I truly believe that Christ could come today and all prophecy would still be fulfilled.

This is the question:If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? I know that you are wondering where I am going with this. I want to hit home with this question. Let's look at what is going on. Iran has promised to blow Israel off the map. They are backing Syria which is building up troops in the Golan Heights and ships off the coast. Hezbollah states they are at least as strong as they were before, Palestine is still threatening Israel and North Korea has promised to supply weapons to Iran. These weapons are nuclear weapons. This points to the return of Christ but let's look closer to home. The question I asked is about to become reality. I am not trying to upset anyone but to get you to examine yourself and make sure you know where you stand with the Lord. America's future does not look good, they are continuously attacking Christians. In 1987 there was information let out from congress about some prison camps set up in the United States. At the time it was said that these were for Christians to be retrained and long term confinement for those that could not be retrained. Recently I received a copy of a letter stating that there are 800 such camps in North America. Some are manned and some already have prisoners. They are manned with non-English speaking guards. This is no joke, will you stand up for God or will you turn your back on God? We need to be ready now we can not wait for it to happen then expect to get right with God. It won't happen.

Let's now look at our lives and make sure we are ready. Luke 3:4 states as it is written in the book of Esaias the prophet, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. What is John the Baptist talking about here? I didn't really understand before I dug into it. John is talking about getting your life right with God. He is talking about getting rid of the idols in your life, cleaning up the temple of God, returning to the Lord and personal purification.

1 Samuel 7:3 talks about getting rid of the idols.
And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtarath from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

The enemy was about to overtake Israel but they put away all of their idols and returned to God and God delivered them from their enemy.

2 Chronicles 19:3 states: Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.

The groves were places set up to worship idols. When they took down the groves and turned back to God, he turned his wrath away from the Israelites. But they could not serve God and the idols at the same time. Why does God get so upset about having idols? Because he states point blank in the 10 commandments Exodus 20:3-4 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

God is a jealous God he will not share his people with anyone or anything. God gave us his word so that we would know how to live and what to do. You say I haven't read through the Bible, I don't know what he expects. It is our responsibility to know what he expects. We must prepare our lives to receive what God has for us. Have you heard of a farmer not preparing the land or planting seeds but still going out expecting the harvest? We must prepare our lives. We must get rid of the idols in our lives. An idol is anything that comes between you and God. What is your idol? Think about it. Is it your money, your house, your car, or your job? What about your activity like football, basketball, fishing, hunting or camping? What about your family? Yes, family can become an idol. We must take care of our family but they cannot stand between you and God. An idol does not have to be a statue or graven image it can be anything. What is your idol?

Duane L. Huffstutler, Written 2011, Faithwriters.com
Duane L. Huffstutler is the Sunday School Director at Oak Grove Pentecostal Ministries in Bonifay Florida. All scripture is from the King James Version (1611)

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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