Tom Hoefling:
God created us in His own image and likeness, as feeling and thinking beings like unto Himself, with an innate drive to speak and act upon what we feel and think.
The expression of feeling, and thinking, and doing, reached its highest possible height upon a Roman cross, because those things were expressed - with the most exquisite feeling, unto the outer limits of thought, in ultimate action - by the One Man Who was Himself Divine. Mysteriously, but truly, Jesus Christ was, and is, completely human while yet having always been entirely God.
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," He said of those who were torturing and killing Him, a crowd of abject sinners that encompasses all of the rest of us, from that moment down until now.
And then He gave up the ghost and was buried, only to arise on the appointed morn, three days later, for our salvation and justification, if we only believe.
The signs of the reality of that salvation, of that glorious justification before a Holy and Righteous God, of that faith - or in the lack of the reality of it - must be borne out in how we feel, and how we think, and what we do. It's inevitable.
One of the reasons we know this, is because we have been clearly told in the scripture of that future day when the LORD will come again and divide the sheep from the goats, based on how we treated others, who are, at least for this brief moment of time, the stand-ins for Jesus Himself. "As you did unto the least of these, you did unto Me."
If we are truly saved, our feelings and thoughts will increasingly be like unto the LORD's, and will be expressed in our actions, even sacrificially, as our brother's loving keeper. We will serve, as He served.
If we are not saved, of course we will not care, in the end, about anyone but ourselves. And that end will be complete destruction, in utter separation from the LORD but also from our fellow man.
Everything I've said here today I've laid as the predicate for yet another argument against the barbaric, heinous practice of human abortion.
Abortion does physical violence unto death to the innocent, helpless, defenseless individual child, obviously.
But abortion also does violence to that fellow feeling that is both naturally, and supernaturally, implanted within us by our Creator.
Abortion does violence to the unique, priceless natural bond between a mother and her child.
Abortion does violence to the innate nature of a man that compels him to protect women and children.
Abortion is a gross violation of the laws of God and the laws of nature.
Abortion is a gross violation of the Gospel.
Abortion is a gross violation of the equal protection requirements that are the basis, the foundation, of our free constitutional republic and our national claim to self-government in liberty.
But, in any case, in the end, God will vindicate the innocent victims.
And the perpetrators and enablers of abortion will have found that their violence has been returned upon their own heads.
If you are, in any way, enabling this holocaust, stop, before it is too late. Return to God, be forgiven, so that you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Revelation 6:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
God created us in His own image and likeness, as feeling and thinking beings like unto Himself, with an innate drive to speak and act upon what we feel and think.
The expression of feeling, and thinking, and doing, reached its highest possible height upon a Roman cross, because those things were expressed - with the most exquisite feeling, unto the outer limits of thought, in ultimate action - by the One Man Who was Himself Divine. Mysteriously, but truly, Jesus Christ was, and is, completely human while yet having always been entirely God.
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," He said of those who were torturing and killing Him, a crowd of abject sinners that encompasses all of the rest of us, from that moment down until now.
And then He gave up the ghost and was buried, only to arise on the appointed morn, three days later, for our salvation and justification, if we only believe.
The signs of the reality of that salvation, of that glorious justification before a Holy and Righteous God, of that faith - or in the lack of the reality of it - must be borne out in how we feel, and how we think, and what we do. It's inevitable.
One of the reasons we know this, is because we have been clearly told in the scripture of that future day when the LORD will come again and divide the sheep from the goats, based on how we treated others, who are, at least for this brief moment of time, the stand-ins for Jesus Himself. "As you did unto the least of these, you did unto Me."
If we are truly saved, our feelings and thoughts will increasingly be like unto the LORD's, and will be expressed in our actions, even sacrificially, as our brother's loving keeper. We will serve, as He served.
If we are not saved, of course we will not care, in the end, about anyone but ourselves. And that end will be complete destruction, in utter separation from the LORD but also from our fellow man.
Everything I've said here today I've laid as the predicate for yet another argument against the barbaric, heinous practice of human abortion.
Abortion does physical violence unto death to the innocent, helpless, defenseless individual child, obviously.
But abortion also does violence to that fellow feeling that is both naturally, and supernaturally, implanted within us by our Creator.
Abortion does violence to the unique, priceless natural bond between a mother and her child.
Abortion does violence to the innate nature of a man that compels him to protect women and children.
Abortion is a gross violation of the laws of God and the laws of nature.
Abortion is a gross violation of the Gospel.
Abortion is a gross violation of the equal protection requirements that are the basis, the foundation, of our free constitutional republic and our national claim to self-government in liberty.
But, in any case, in the end, God will vindicate the innocent victims.
And the perpetrators and enablers of abortion will have found that their violence has been returned upon their own heads.
If you are, in any way, enabling this holocaust, stop, before it is too late. Return to God, be forgiven, so that you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Revelation 6:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
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