John 16:20, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy."
while the sinful world rejoices. How can any born-again believer truly be happy living in the midst of such a filthy, sexually degenerate, murderous, unthankful, arrogant, greedy, selfish and sick-minded world? You can't, which is why Jesus said we'd be sorrowful and weep.
The Bible Teaches that the World Hates Christians
Jesus said that the sinful world would HATE US, and they do. John 15:19, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” The more one takes a stand for God and truth, the more hated and persecuted that person will be. If you are a professed Christian and you are popular with the heathen world, it is only because you are not truly serving the Lord. The Bible teaches that God-fearing, Christ-honoring, sin-hating, soul-winning, Bible-preaching Christians WILL BE hated by the world.
Jesus never sinned even once in His entire life (2nd Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15), yet the Jews cried out for Barabbas (a murderer according to Mark 15:7) to be set free and they wanted Jesus crucified to death. This is how the world reacts to God and truth—rejection. The world shows no mercy for the Christian; but they have sympathy for the wicked. This is why still today we see murderers go free and innocent men imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. The world is evil. The abortionists cry out, “Crucify the babies”; while God's children cry out, “Please release them.” Will you choose Barabbas or Jesus?
Luke 6:22, “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.” Any true Christian who loves the Lord Jesus Christ WILL BE PERSECUTED... 2nd Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” The world doesn't mind a cowardly believer who never raises a Gospel flag, never speaks a word against sin, laughs at their sick jokes, and follows Jesus from afar off. 2nd Corinthians 4:3, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” Most believers today are HIDING the Gospel by their Christless life. Mark 4:21, “And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?”
When a faithful Christian man works in a heathen workplace, he will have no choice but to either take a stand against sin or else compromise and partake of men's evil thoughts, dirty jokes, pornographic smut, dishonest ways and slanderous gossip. We ought not curse in God's name as the heathens do.
We ought not indulge in pornographic smut as the wicked do. We ought not go to strip-clubs as the godless do. We ought not divorce as the wicked do. We ought not live like the sinful world. We ought not commit fornication as the heathens do. We ought not go to Sin City Las Vegas as the wicked do. We ought not tell dirty jokes as the sinful world does. We ought not gossip and slander people as the wicked do. We belong to Jesus Christ. Our Christian faith is being tested every moment of every day. A faith must be tested.
Taking a Biblical Stand for God
A Christian who is right with God cares—which causes them to hate abortion, homosexuality, drunkenness, adultery, immodest clothing, Harry Potter's witchcraft, the vile American sex-culture of fornication, and other evils which provoke the judgment of God (Romans 1:24-32). “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil” (Psalm 97:10a). Something is very wrong with a professed Christian who doesn't get upset over the wicked condition of this sin-cursed world. While the heathen world rejoices in their selfish and self-centered lives, delighting themselves in the pleasures of sin and making merry in their Christless lives; born-again believers are crying out to God for the Pretribulation Rapture to come. Death for the Christian means life in Heaven; but death for the unsaved person means eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire. Ecclesiastes 11:9, “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.” Go ahead, live it up, if you dare; but your day of reckoning with God is fast approaching.
John the Baptist loved God and righteousness. John's heart was saddened by the sin he saw and the destroyed lives. John was angry over sin and it showed in his preaching. When Herod began an adulterous affair with his brother's wife, John had a few words to say... Mark 6:18, “For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.” It was this remark that cost John his head. John wasn't beheaded for preaching the Gospel, he was beheaded for preaching against adultery, Herod's adultery. Yet the average sissy-britches minister behind the pulpit nowadays wouldn't dare preach against adultery or other popular sins in our vile American society today, lest he end up living homeless in the wilderness as John the Baptist did. You know, there was a reason why John lived in the wilderness.
Weeping Over the Apostasy of Our Time
It's tragic that so many professed Christians are silent concerning the hellish Catholic religion. It is apostasy for America's preachers to speak kindly of the Pope. The Pope is not the vicar of Heaven; THE POPE IS THE VICAR OF HELL!!! Shame on any preacher who speaks of Catholicism in a positive light. The Catholic Church came straight out of the pits of Hell.
Apostasy abounds everywhere nowadays. Few people have genuine faith in the Word of God and Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Most people who profess a belief in God are as lost spiritually as can be. They are hellbound in their sins.
I have a Catholic neighbor that is stubborn like a mule. He is a good man as far as sinners go, but he is religious without truth. I have witnessed to him on numerous occasions, but he prides himself in sticking to the teachings that his grandparents and parents taught him. He is idolatrous and smiles with arrogance when he tells me that he follows the Catholic Church over the Bible. He's about 50-years old. One day he will split Hell wide open and find out that God's Word is true and the Catholic Church lied to him. He is going to die in his sins without Christ. He adamantly believes that he is going to Heaven because of his faith AND GOOD WORKS. Adding anything to faith alone in Jesus is a false gospel and a guaranteed road to hellfire (Ephesians 2:8-9). I am saddened that he is going to Hell. He rejoices and drinks beer like water. He is living it up, like he's never going to die. I am praying for his salvation and won't give up on him, but he has given up on himself. He's a key figure in his parish, St. Jude. I love Catholics as people; but I hate the cult of Catholicism!
We read in Proverb 28:4, “They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.” I guarantee you that the pastors who are endorsing Obama's presidency are the same rascals that DON'T believe that the King James Bible is the inspired and preserved Words of God. No Christian who believes the Bible and loves the Lord Jesus Christ would ever support a U.S. president who wants to expand adoption rights for homosexuals, legalize same-sex marriage, confiscate citizen's guns, expand global abortion programs, and further the United States as a Communist nation. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. America is heading for imminent moral, economic and spiritual destruction! The average American is so ignorant of what's really going on that they can't even form a proper opinion. Most people are stuck on one issue or another. The big picture is that American has already gone to Hell.
Who'd of thought we'd see a day in the United States when churches would march in pro-abortion rallies, when a church would call an ordained lesbian to be their pastor, when churches would support tyranny, when a pastor would say gay is ok, when religious leaders would praise the demonic Pope, and we'd hear of abortion contests over the radio. Of course we're sad as Christians, and there's something very selfish and wrong with you if you're oblivious to all this. I know of professed Christians who live in their own little bubble, and never do anything for God, and never reach out to the poor, nor preach the Gospel. It's all about them. They're like the rich man in Luke 16:19-31, planning for their future retirement and the wonderful time they're going to have. Proverb 27:1 says you may be dead by sunset.
Christians Who Think Like the Devil
Would to God that we had more believers today who would be willing to lose all for the sake of preaching the truth. When you take a stand for God, I mean with the truths of God's Word, expect all the demons of Hell to attack you and those around you. Satan always attacks the weakest link in any chain. Satan wanted to sift Peter as wheat for a good reason (Luke 22:31)—because the Devil knew that Peter was ignorant concerning the Scriptures. When Jesus announced to His disciples that He was to be crucified in Jerusalem, Peter swore that he'd fight 'til the death to prevent it from happening to protect Jesus. Peter thought he was doing a good thing, but Jesus absolutely needed to go to the cross to pay for the sins of mankind. Peter was ignorant concerning the Scriptures and; thus, vulnerable to Satanic influence.
In response to Peter's comment, here's what Jesus said to him in Matthew 16:23, “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Although a born-again Christian, Peter had adopted some Satanic thinking in his mind. Many believers today have allowed their minds to become filled with demonic thinking; such as, the false teaching that divorce is permissible under certain circumstances, the heresy of religious Zionism, the lie that wives needn't obey their husbands, the heresy of deliverance healing, the fraud of speaking-in-tongues, the lie of infant baptism, the heresy that salvation can be lost, the lie that God wants us all to be financially rich in this world, and other demonic teachings.
These are the false doctrines that the Apostle Paul warned liars would sneak into the church. There are many such false doctrines in churches today, that are rooted in manmade traditions and not God's Word.
Ye Shall Be Sorrowful... the World Shall Rejoice!
Jesus said that we would be sad and sorrowful in this world; while the sinful world parties and rejoices in their sinful ways. John 16:20, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” Please notice that Jesus said one day our sorrow will be turned into joy when He returns. Praise God!
Again in John 16:22 we are told, “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” Notice what Jesus said... “and your joy no man taketh from you.” It is people that often take our joy away. Jesus said this. I've heard some people say, “No one can make you unhappy except you.” That is not always true. Jesus said that people will rob our joy sometimes. It's inevitable. Oftentimes people do make us unhappy—slandering us publicly, turning other people against us, stealing from us, hurting us any way they can, playing mind games or just being mean because they can. Misery loves company and miserable people don't want anyone else to be happy. There are some very mean and rotten people in this world, who will hurt you just because they can. And there are some very sweet and decent people. Jesus said that when He returns, NO MAN will ever take our joy away again.
Until that wonderful time comes Jesus gave us John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” People may rob us of our joy at times, but they can't take away our peace of knowing that our name is written in Heaven, and that the Lord will one day return and make everything right, and no one will ever hurt us again. Jesus said to BE OF GOOD CHEER in knowing that He has overcome the world, i.e., we have the blessed assurance and divine promise that one day Jesus is going to make everything right. Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Amen and amen! END
“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” (1st John 5:19)
