Get Real with God and He will Get Real with You

Even though they were in captivity because of their acts of rebellion and idolatry, through His prophet Jeremiah, God told the Jewish people that His thoughts towards them were thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. They had some conditions to meet before they could inherit the glorious promise however; call upon God through consistent and diligent prayer. In other words, prayer from the heart, not from the head. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart Jeremiah 29:11-13. Get real with God and He will get real with you.

A meme on “social” media reads: Dear God, Why do You allow so much violence in our schools? Signed, Concerned Student. Answer: Dear Concerned Student, I’m not allowed in schools. God. It refers to the latest USA school shooting, but the same prayer could be put to God for the violence experienced by people in their homes, work places, societies and nations. If it is, the chances are extremely high that they would be given the same answer. People ask: “But why does God allow the innocent and defenseless to get caught up in it? They didn’t kick God out! They’re the victims of other people’s decisions.” Very true. I’m sure that was the reasoning of many an innocent and defenseless victim in the Babylonian captivity too.

If the cycle is not broken, the acts of God-haters increase exponentially as generations go by. Like cancer, they spread with time! That’s what we’re witnessing now with more to come. Jesus Christ, prayer, plus all things Christian got thrown out of USA schools from the very early 1960’s. Other institutions of renown followed – Universities, Law Courts, even some Bible Colleges and churches subtlety but surely did it. In the early 1970’s legalized murder became a reality nationally in the USA. It’s called abortion. Sad that people are being indoctrinated into believing guns kill, when medical doctors and mums kill too and very few bat an eyelid – over 60,000,000 babies in the USA slaughtered so far, with nearly 1.5 billion babies worldwide, and counting!

God caused the Jewish people to go into captivity because of their rebellion and idolatry, telling them they would be there 70 years. People today are in captivity to rebellion and idolatry and who knows how long they’ll remain in that predicament? Only God alone can set them free from it but since most people would rather go to surgery before they’d allow that to happen, most of them die rebellious and idolatrous at 70 years, with some earlier and some later. The word God spoke to the Jews of old still applies today, both to them and to us: “For I have no pleasure in the death (ruin, hell) of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live.” Ezekiel 18:32. As has been said in many posts on this blog, people send themselves to hell.    

So the question is, why don’t people seek God with all their heart? Of many reasons why, a primary one is confusion. People are confused as to Who the true God really is. And leading religious institutions can be held accountable for much of the confusion. Take for example, the Roman Catholic Church, the Mormon Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. All of them unashamedly claim to be “the church of the one true God,” but if you ask each of them to tell you Who Jesus Christ is you’ll get three different answers. The first group will tell you Christ is God Incarnate, but you’ll have to go through Mary to get to Him. The other groups totally deny Christ is God Incarnate, so the seeker walks away more confused than before.

Another primary reason: People are repulsed and disgusted by the hypocrisy and all things sexually immoral taking place in not only those 3 leading religious institutions, but also in other places where Christ, for all intents and purposes, is not denied. But instead of laying the charge where it rightly belongs, they lay it on Christ Himself. “Why does He allow this?” they ask. They don’t know the Bible’s strict instructions to the leadership of churches. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood Acts 20:28. Of course, where leaders are unwilling to take the Bible seriously, they won’t take God seriously either.

Yet another primary reason: People believe they’re already good enough. Perhaps that’s the ultimate in rebellion and idolatry. God has given us a written standard, He’s given us a Living Power enabling us to live according to that standard but we turn the other way. “My way,” is not only the song of Frank Sinatra! Adam and Eve sung one similar way back there in the Garden and it has been passed on down to every descendant of them ever since! They got seduced into believing the lie that they were good enough without the need for God. When people fail or refuse to worship God in spirit and truth John 4:24, they will worship themselves in one form or another. The selfie crowd gives a powerful witness to the truth of that today.

When people fail to measure themselves by the standards of God, they will measure themselves by the standards of others. For example: If they’re not sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist or bigoted, they will look down their noses at all whom they consider to be such. If they were successful at losing weight or ceasing from smoking, they will look down their noses at fat people and smokers! If their behavior is not that of the narcissist, misogynist, sexual harasser and abuser, they will look down their noses at the people whose behavior that is. There are countless reasons why people believe they are good enough without the need for God. Too, they refuse to accept the truth such belief systems stem from rebellion and idolatry.

“Reincarnation is my belief, not resurrection,” said the sick woman when informed of the once dead but now resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, the Healer. Not only did her belief not give her the possibility of being healed, it stopped her (at the time) from the certainty of receiving the gift of salvation and eternal life that comes through Jesus Christ and Him alone. Reincarnation and resurrection are diametrically opposed to one another. There is no biblical evidence of anyone once dead coming back as another person or animal. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation Hebrews 9:27-28. 

“There is a Creator!” That was the angry response from a very old man who rejected the truth that the Creator is also the Redeemer. Not too long after that encounter he was to find himself standing before his Creator, but probably not his Redeemer. No second chances for that old man if that was the case. I always thought he was a good-hearted old man until that afternoon. There’s nobody like Jesus Christ to expose the true heart of a person. At the mere mention of His name the real person hidden behind his or her “face mask” will show up in a matter of moments. And in general, the older the person, the quicker the matter of moments! On the other hand, a grand blessing it is to see some set free from captivity to rebellion and idolatry before they die.

Up until mid-June 1985, I was in captivity to rebellion and idolatry. See my post: But they still have a god. I hid behind three gods of my own creation; that qualifies me to speak about the subject here. The words “in captivity to rebellion and idolatry” are not mentioned in the post but the reality of such is everywhere to be discerned. That’s God’s divine diagnosis on the matter and I’m ever so grateful and thankful He set me free from them. There’s only one reason He did so though and that is, I got real with Him; He then in turn got real with me! My encounter with the Lord that evening was the beginning of a permanent life change. Now I’m in captivity to the Trinity of God experiencing true freedom!

So here’s my message to those who will readily admit they’re in captivity to rebellion and idolatry: Get real with God and He will get real with you. You don’t want to die and stand before Christ in that condition. If you do, there is nothing the Lord can do for you; at your last breath His mercy passes you by. There are no second chances and hell is a place of the real in spite of what religious institutions teach to the contrary. It’s one thing to get blown away by a gun in the hands of a madman, it will be something else altogether to get blown away for all eternity by the hands of a holy and righteous God. Don’t die without Christ. For He says: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation 2 Corinthians 6:2.