ABOMINATIONS IN TODAY’S WORLD
LUKE 16:14-15 (AMPC)
“Now the Pharisees, who were covetous and
lovers of money, heard all these things [taken together], and they began to
sneer at and ridicule and scoff at Him.
15 But He (Jesus Christ) said to them, you are
the ones who declare yourselves just and upright before men, but God knows
your hearts. For what is exalted and highly thought of among men is
detestable and abhorrent (an abomination) in the sight of God.”
Dear people of God, in today’s world, material riches have come
to be associated with success with very little or no attention paid to the
source of the riches.
This has fuelled the culture of ‘just do anything for money’
because according to the world, “the end justifies the means.”
This was why the Lord Jesus Christ made it clear to His
listeners that one cannot serve God and mammon, that is, riches, or anything in which you trust
and on which you rely that takes the place of God in your
life.
Indeed, there are many activities that cause major distractions
in human lives today and takes the place of God in many people’s life. This is
idolatry and a grave offense against the Lord.
I will go ahead and list a few examples:
(1) Social media – whilst few use social media to propagate the
Gospel and legitimate business, majority of people use it to engage in
unproductive activities, e.g. gossip, fashion, dating, fraud, pornography,
rebellion, calumny, strife, etc
(2) Sports – football, wrestling, athletics, tennis, etc. In many
countries of the world, fans idolize these sports and their practitioners,
especially football.
You even find Christians who miss church programs just to watch
football matches. Even when the names of the clubs and their logos clearly
depict them as agents of the devil, you still see many people gladly following
these clubs, adorning Jerseys with their logos and even players.
How can a club call itself red devils? How could the image of
the devil be a club logo and Christians still support this?
How can someone forsake God’s directive to attend church
(Hebrews 10:25) all because he wants to watch a football match?
How can someone use a cutlass to inflict deep cuts on his fellow
human and even murder him because of anger over the loss of a football match by
his football club?
Dear friend, are these things ordinary? Are you aware that God
does not permit any person, whether male or female to wear shorts outside the
home, expose your body parts, talk less of wearing pants like runners, gymnasts,
wrestlers, boxers, footballers, etc?
(3) Entertainment – need I say much about this with the level of
immorality on display all over the world with the kind of programs shown on
television these days? Whether it is music, acting, etc, entertainers dress
half naked, use women who devalue themselves as models.
Many argue that it is the heart God sees and not their bodies.
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ gave a revelation warning to a
sister Rachael Mushala Chisulo to tell the world that His Word in 1 Corinthians
6:19 says the body is the Temple of His Holy Spirit whom you have received as a gift from God and so your body is not yours but God’s.
What then is the justification for exposing your body to the
world to see?
(4) Nightclubs and bars – I was shocked when a Christian friend of
mine once stated that there was nothing wrong with a Christian going to night
clubs!
Really? Again, it just shows the level of moral degradation that
has permeated today’s world where even persons who should be led by the Spirit
of God are in dire need of spiritual help.
Does visiting a night club or bar glorify God? Does it mean
Christians are not aware that demonic spirits operate in such places and infect
those who visit them?
(5) Parties in schools – there is this practice of schools
organizing end of year parties for their students and there you see parents
dress up their kids in immoral garments, paint their faces with cosmetics and
play all manner of music.
As a child growing up, these things were never done because the
school owners were conscious of the kind of image they projected to the
parents. However, today’s parents are not only happy to listen to immoral music
but they consciously cheer their kids dancing sensually to such music.
Where exactly did they learn this from if not the immoral
programs airing on television?
(6) Passing school examinations at all costs – when I was a student
in school, it was unheard of that the school owners would deliberately acquire
the impending examination question papers and teach their students before hand.
Nowadays however, in a bid to be known as a school whose
students record 100% pass in external examinations, school owners, parents and
external supervisors actively collude to cheat by sharing answers with their
students during the examinations.
The fear of God is no longer an issue for such persons neither
are they bothered about the destination of their souls when they die as long as
they can make money by hook or crook.
Examinations malpractice is no more a sanctionable offence in
schools but is actively encouraged because parents want their children to have
a future at all cost.
I heard the pathetic story of a young student who was accosted
by a God-fearing supervisor for having already prepared answers during an
external exam. The student said she did not see anything wrong in what she was
doing because her mother had always provided such help to her for as long as
she knew.
Is such mother expecting to escape God’s judgement? Does the
mother not know that God would also judge her child?
Dear friend, see what the Bible says in Proverbs 13:5 (AMPC), “A [consistently]
righteous man hates lying and deceit, but a wicked man is loathsome [his
very breath spreads pollution] and he comes [surely] to shame.”
(7) Divorce and Re-marriage – in the movie world, marriages last
forever and indeed that is God’s expectation of every marriage.
However, majority of the actors and actresses of these movies in
different nations of the real world are unable to stay put in their own
marriages.
They are unable to commit to their life partners and swiftly abandon
their legal marriages at the slightest provocation or marital misunderstanding
and enter into adulterous relationships with others to whom they are not legally
married.
Unfortunately, their fans who watch their movies have joined the
fray in this ungodly practice and many marriages are breaking down so much
these days that many have come to accept it as a new normal and even advise
others never to take any rubbish in their marriages.
Whatever happened to the vow of ‘for better for worse’ made
before God and humans in Church at the start of the marriage?
What about God’s law that says He hates divorce and you cannot
divorce? – Malachi 2:16. Are these persons not aware that God would never
change His Word because He is righteous?
No one can mock God.
(8) Everyday conversations – why is it that it is very easy for friends and colleagues generally to freely discuss all the aforementioned issues but
when the conversation turns to religion, they become stiff, try to avoid it,
shut it down, giving all manner of excuses about why they cannot be involved in
such conversations?
Don’t you know that you are living temporarily in this world and
that everyone is destined to die and enter eternity one day?
Don’t you know that the conversation about religion, God, heaven,
hell, eternity, Christ Jesus, Salvation, Repentance, sin, unrighteousness,
holiness, righteousness, etc is the most important conversation everyone should
engage in?
Don’t you know that God values the human soul above everything
else in this world? Don’t you know that God loves humans created in His image
and likeness as His most prized possession?
Don’t you know that God so loved the world that He sent His only
begotten Son Jesus Christ my Lord to come into the world to die for our sins and
that whosoever believes in Jesus Christ would not die any longer but have
everlasting life? – John 3:16.
Dear friend, everyone will account to God for his or her actions
in this world. Whether you accept it or not, believe it or not is immaterial
because God has declared so in His Word in Romans 14:12.
We are told in Proverbs 13:6 (AMPC), “Righteousness (rightness
and justice in every area and relation) guards him who is upright in the way,
but wickedness plunges into sin and overthrows the sinner.”
Jesus Christ is coming shortly to take in Rapture 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.