Dear Unbeliever - Yes Most Christian Believers Are Hypocrites!
Dear Unbeliever,
Welcome to Part 4 of my letter. I hope you have read the first 3 parts of my letter because I don’t want to lose you in thoughts and it will be very beneficial for you to start from the beginning. That said, this part of my letter addresses a key concern that Unbelievers have towards us Believers. How do we get to condemn you (Unbelievers) to hell, playing God and judging over your lives when you see our (Believers) hypocrisy on full display? We secretly do the same things you do and even worse but then we call you all kinds of names and act so pious on Sundays or when we are in church. We say one thing and do another.
Full disclosure here? I concur with you. Most of us Believers have not earned the right to even convince you to change your lives let alone judge or condemn you. God is the ultimate judge - because He’s the only one who sees our hearts and knows our innermost thoughts. I am just as dumbfounded as you are about the hypocrisy of most Christians, but, I have to remind myself that as long as we exist in the flesh and blood, the imperfect lies wait for us. Christian or not, we are just as human as we all can be - so fallible. However, when the Spirit of God comes to dwell in you, He is the only one that can bring true transformation. Don’t be confused yet - most Christians do not have the indwelling of the Spirit of God, aka, the Holy Spirit. I told you earlier we will talk about Him at some point. You see, you cannot carry the presence of God or His spirit and still live in sin. He is holy. The God that we serve is also omniscient and omnipresent. Luke 12:2 ESV: “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” There’s nothing He doesn’t know and nowhere under the sun or up in the heavens that you can run and hide to commit some kind of sin that He does not see or know about.
Do you know that Jesus cannot stand hypocrites? Oh if you will indulge me, I’ll give you a few scriptures. Matthew 7:5 ESV: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” Yes He hates hypocrisy with passion because it misleads people and drives away people like you who think that is who He is, but I am here to tell you that God hates hypocrisy. The people that say they love God but then you find them doing the same things you are doing, they truly do not love God. In Matthew 15:8 NIV, Jesus even reiterated that “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”. Yup - He knows the hearts of every so-called Believer who does not do His will but calls themselves followers of Christ. In John 8:1-11, there’s a story of a woman who was caught in the act of adultery and the law demanded that she should be stoned to death. Do you know that Jesus stopped them from stoning her? He only asked them a simple question - “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Do you know they all left and none of them was pious enough to lift a stone over this woman? Yes - the so-called law-abiding and religious people were not even in right standing with God yet, they were going to pass judgment on another person because she had sinned.
Do you realize now that God doesn’t even condemn you? So if He doesn’t condemn you, then let me assure you that no human being has been given that authority to condemn another human being. God hates sin, EVERY kind of sin. He is a holy God. He is without blemish. He also knows our weakness as humans and because of that, He gave us a pathway to enable us to live a life free of sin. That pathway is accepting His son Jesus Christ and living as Christ lived. The Bible is our roadmap and guiding light to living a righteous life. Personally, as I continue to study the word of God and fellowship intimately with Him through prayer, I see my life being transformed daily. The spirit of God deeply convicts me when I am in the wrong and He gives me a chance to make it right. I’ve learned to forgive easily, and to also apologize and ask for forgiveness if I cross the line with anyone. It doesn’t diminish who I am but it helps me stay in alignment with the Spirit of God and I also like to live my life with a clear conscience. I sleep better :).
So, as you go about your lives this week, I want you to ignore these people that 2 Timothy 3:5 ESV talks about, “Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people”. In other words, those Christians who do what you do but then condemn you, avoid them! Be rest assured that anyone who judges those who practice sinful things and yet do them themselves will not escape the judgment of God. (Romans 2:3 paraphrased). God seeks for you and He desires to make Himself known to you so that such people will not push you away from Him. I hope by now, if you’ve still been following my letters, see a different Jesus Christ than what the tainted Believers have made you think of Him? He loves you more than anyone on this planet will - even your own parents or children cannot love you as much. I want you to meditate on that this week and I look forward to you reading part 5 of my letter next week.
To be continued….
XOXO,
Lady Abena.
Declarations For October 2021
Pray with me…..
My Father in Heaven, this can only be your doing to see me safely through to theTenth month of this year. Ten (10) is a number of completion so I know that you are making everything in my life WHOLE, FULL and RESTORED in this month of October. I decree and declare that;
- You have brought everything that you have started in my life to completion in Jesus’ name.
You have restored to me the joy of Your salvation, and upheld me with a willing spirit. - As You who have allowed me to see many troubles and calamities, so also have You revived me again; from the depths of the earth You have brought me up again.
- You are increasing my greatness and comforting me again.
- Because I have been born of God, I have overcome the world and any challenge that it has presented thus far.
- My God of all grace, who has called me to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish me.
- Just as You O Lord restored the fortunes of Job, You will give me twice as much as I had before.
- Instead of my shame you are giving me a double portion.
- Instead of dishonor I will rejoice in my lot.
- You are bestowing on me a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
- You are giving me the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
- I am called an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.
- I will possess a double portion in this land and have everlasting joy.
- You have restored health to me O Lord, my wounds you have healed forever.
- You are restoring to me the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter.
- I shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord my God, who has dealt wondrously with me.
- Never again will I be put to shame.
We declare that it is so and so it is in the mighty name of Jesus Christ we pray! AMEN!
XOXO
Lady Abena.
Dear Unbeliever - The Bible Is The Word of God
Dear Unbeliever,
Welcome to part 3 of my letter. If you haven’t read the first 2 parts, I encourage you to do so by clicking on the previous weeks’ blogs to read before you proceed with this one. Today we are discussing the reality of the Bible being the true word of God. I know most non-believing people think us believing Christians are crazy to think God actually wrote the bible or even believe in its potency. I remember a rapper making fun as to why there are so many versions of this one book - suggesting that maybe we are confused as Christians but think the secular world is the one confused instead.
If you do a google search on this topic, you will find so many articles - some defending the Bible as the true word of God and others opposing it. Thus, I’ll spare you another argument or reproduce what others have already said. One article I found so helpful was written by Dr. Adrian Rogers of Love Worth Finding Ministries for Christianity.com and I think you should read it as well. The title of his article is “Is the Bible Really the Word of God?” It is so insightful and spot on and confirms the viability of the Bible. For now, I’d like to share my own experience on this topic for you.
I started reading the bible quite early, from my Sunday school days. Do you know that as I grew older, I only remembered the interesting stories that were shared in Sunday school? I was once in a debate and ‘sword drill’, oh you’d love it. It was a competition for various Sunday Schools. We’d come together and see who was well versed in the bible and could open to a quoted scripture first. My surprise is how I seemed to easily forget the scriptures as I grew older. As an adult, when I started having encounters with the Lord, I thought it would be nice to read the bible from Genesis to Revelation so I embarked on the journey. Do you know that I got frustrated not long after I started reading it? I couldn't seem to retain the scriptures and be able to quote them as others did. Yes - most believers memorize scriptures and actually take pride in quoting them. Oh trust me, they can make other believers feel like they know nothing. I used to equate their ability in quoting scriptures to a high-level spirituality. Boy was I wrong. Yes I was and if you ever encounter one of those kinds of believers, don’t let them scare you away. Proximity to the word of God is not proof that they truly know God. If you see a believer who knows every scripture but has not been transformed by it, then your guess is as good as mine so you have nothing to worry about.
You see, the bible on its own is a compendium of words and reading it from your human mind and intellect can be confusing. Some of the stories make you squirm, others give you hope. I wasn’t retaining anything I was reading because I was doing it from a human perspective. God is a spirit, so if I was going to read his book, reading it from a fleshy mindset wasn’t going to cut it for me. When I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and He started to manifest in my life, I suddenly started to read the bible with a different meaning and understanding. It was as if someone was explaining to me everything I read and I was getting tons of revelations from what I read. I found 3 things as I read the Bible: Promises, Prophecies and Principles to live by. The stories stuck with me and through each chapter, I’d find so much gold I have become addicted to reading it daily.
I love the different versions because they expand the words as well as make it more understandable to the modern reader. My newest obsession is with the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) which gives you a raw translation of the bible from Hebrew to English. I’m also on the YouVersion Bible App and oh how I have been blessed by it. I can sort through different versions with just a scroll of the finger. YouVersion also has tons of daily devotionals which speak to every aspect of your life or things that are boggling your mind. In just the last year and half, I have completed over 150 devotionals and I hope I can make it to 200 completed devotionals before the end of this year. Another time I will share who and what sparked my fire to study these devotionals. All you need to know is that it has blessed me and now I can’t stop.
I went to bed one night wondering if God will ever avenge me on a situation I had been wrongly dealt in. I usually don’t keep my bible open in the night for fear that I might roll over it and tear a page. I woke up that morning to find my bible open to a chapter in Genesis. I was a bit confused because my last reading in the night time was Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. Even if I wanted to flip it to Genesis, the bible would have closed entirely because it’s a heavy one. I curiously read the chapter and lo and behold, it was addressing my very concern and how God avenged the person. Immediately I knew that the Holy Spirit had opened that scripture for me to read. Since then, I didn’t underestimate the power of God’s word anymore. He truly is everywhere, sees everything and hears every conversation and prayer. The ones we speak out and the ones we speak only in our minds and heart. This has been my true encounter with the word of God and I cannot doubt it again. I am currently studying Robert M’Cheyne’s One Year Bible Reading Plan on day 268 out of 365 days. I encourage you to satisfy your doubts and curiosity by reading it too. I pray that the Holy Spirit will bring the bible to life for you. Maybe, and just maybe, you’ll have a different perspective on the genuineness of the Bible.
May the Lord bless you and keep you this week. We will continue our discussions on Oct 10, 2021 because at the beginning of each month, I like to make some declarations over the month and I hope you’ll join me on that as well. If you’ve been reading this series thus far, I’d like to think we have some kind of friendship going on here? It doesn’t matter or bother me if you believe in my God or not, I still love and accept you as Jesus Christ has commanded.
To be continued…
XOXO,
Lady Abena.