SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS AND THE CURE FOR IT

 John 9:39-41 (AMPC)

 “Then Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment [as a Separator, in order that there may be separation between those who believe on Me and those who reject Me], to make the sightless see and to make those who see become blind.
 
40 Some Pharisees who were near, hearing this remark, said to Him, Are we also blind?
 
41 Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but because you now claim to have sight, your sin remains. [If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but because you insist, We do see clearly, you are unable to escape your guilt.]”
 
Dear people of God, we are living in very dangerous times indeed. It is dangerous in the sense that a number of Christians have simply refused to know what God’s Word says on an issue and prefer to hold on to their ungodly traditions.
 
Some have even gone as far as quoting the Holy Bible to justify their erroneous claims which they post on social media.
 
Even when you correct them using Scriptures, they scoff at you and maintain their position.
 
Few days ago, someone posed a question on a page in one of the groups I am a member on social media. The question was this:
 
“if a brother asks his blood brother to impregnate his wife because he cannot impregnate a woman, it is a sin?”
 
I want to believe he meant to ask if it was a sin?
 
While some of the respondents were clearly irritated and did not hide their feelings, others tried to justify it and I will provide some of the responses here:
 
ü  if the 3 persons agree (husband, wife and husband’s brother), then it is acceptable to God and therefore not a sin

ü  It is family business

ü  It is accepted by tradition

ü  It is in the Bible – the person who said this also said that IVF was a sin against God

ü  It is an abomination

ü  It is a grave sin

ü  I cannot subscribe to such

 
Now, what does God’s Word say?  
 
It is written in Leviticus 18:16 (AMPC), “You shall not have intercourse with your brother's wife; she belongs to your brother.”
 
The focus of this message is on those who saw nothing wrong in the suggestion and that it was perfectly alright.
 
I mean these are adult men and women who believed there is nothing wrong in it.
 
Even when I schooled them using God’s Word in Leviticus 18:16 above, one particular lady told me to go and read Genesis 38 about Onan and come back to tell me why God struck Onan.
 
Onan she was referring to was asked to have intimate relations with his late brother’s wife and not while he was alive.
 
I made it clear to her that there was no law then and so God permitted a brother to have intimate relations with his late brother’s spouse.
 
Not only did God make it clear that you cannot meet your brother’s spouse while he is alive, in Christianity, God does not permit one to marry his late brother’s spouse.
 
Unfortunately, some professed Christians do not take time to study God’s Word to know His expectations of Christians.
 
No matter what you feel or believe, the New Testament is God’s only acceptable standard of living for every human being today.
 
This is why Jesus calls it the new and Everlasting Covenant because God will not change it again.
 
For those who do not understand, the basic difference between the Old and New Testament is the way God dealt with sin.
 
In the old testament, God dealt with sin by asking His people (the Jews) to offer animal sacrifices for every sin committed, which was a temporary solution.
 
Under the New Testament, God dealt with sin once and for all through the sacrificial death at Calvary of our Saviour and Messiah Jesus Christ.
 
God now commands every human being all over the world to repent of sin and accept His saving grace through Jesus Christ.
 
Animal sacrifices are no longer permitted by God.
 
However, God’s moral laws summarized in the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21) remain unchanged forever.
 
This is where many Christian folks get it wrong because they think God has done away with the 10 commandments and so they quote God’s Word out of context to suit their purpose.
 
They forget that the Lord Jesus Christ further summarized the 10 commands into unconditional love of God above all else and unconditional love of neighbour as oneself – Mark 12:29-31.
 
This is also where the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ time as a human on this earth got it wrong and continued to argue with Jesus Christ over God’s unchangeable laws.
 
Just take a look again at today’s lead Holy Bible text above to see the seriousness of arguing over God’s Word and His laws especially when you are wrong.
 
It is called spiritual blindness and it is the worst kind of blindness that can befall a Christian – claiming to be right over an issue that God’s Word clearly says is wrong.
 
The major problem with the Jewish Religious leaders of Jesus’ time as a human on this earth was covetousness and love of money – Luke 16:14-15.
 
Now, because Jesus Christ was attracting a large following as a result of the astounding miracles He was performing by God’s Holy Spirit, the Jewish religious leaders felt threatened out of envy and possible loss of their position.
 
As a result of envy (Matthew 27:18), they were not interested in Jesus’ teaching neither did they recognize God’s great power at work in Him and so they schemed lies about Jesus just to get rid of Him, not knowing they were fulfilling God’s Divine mandate of Salvation for humans.
 
Unfortunately for these Religious leaders, they have since died, entered eternal damnation for thousands of years now and are full of regrets but it is too late for them.
 
For you reading this message, you are still alive on this earth and are still able to take yourself out of eternal damnation before it is too late.
 
I have stated it time and again that where you are not sure of any issue, consult God first in prayer and then through His Word and Spirit to teach and guide you so that you do not give wrong advice to anyone on any matter.
 
God will judge all humans without exception for all we think, do, say and write on social media.
 
Do not allow the devil use you to make you mislead yourself and others into eternal damnation because the same devil is waiting for you on the other side of eternity to deal mercilessly with you and he (devil) will even quote Bible passages to you to show your folly for choosing to believe his lies while you were alive on earth.
 
Can human emotions or tradition or desire to please the world change what God has said?
 
Never.
 
God’s Word remains forever settled in heaven – Psalm 119:89. Study it daily, meditate on it, confess it with your mouth, do exactly what it says and you will never go wrong in this life.
 
Jesus Christ is coming shortly to take ONLY those who are qualified according to His righteous standards in the Holy Bible.

Are you living a genuine life as His disciple? Are you ready for Him? Come to Jesus today, for tomorrow may be too late for you.

May the good Lord bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus’ Most Holy Name, Amen.

Gabriel Ama.