1.24.2012 600 NECKS VS BLEND IN

'LET THE WORD OF THE LORD COME, LET IT COME,
AND IF WE HAD 600 NECKS WE WOULD SUBMIT TO HIS DICTATES.' augustine

'i thank my God for every storm that has wrecked me on the Rock, Jesus Christ.  charles spurgeon

'suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. II timothy 2.3

v25 'it is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher,
and the slave as his master.
if they have called the head of the house beelzebul,
how much more the members of His household!

v27f 'what i tell you in the darkness,
speak in the light;
and what you hear whispered in your ear,
proclaim upon the housetops.
and do not fear those who kill the body,
\but are unable to kill the soul;
but father FEAR Him who is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell.
are not two sparrows sold for a cent?
and yet not one of them will fall to the ground
apart from your Rather.
but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
therefore DO NOT FEAR
you are of more value than many sparrows. matthew 10

on the other hand....
it can get lonely,
for we know that the whole world lieth in the evil one. I john 5.19
(being rocked in the lap of satan, fast asleep spiritually)
it can get rugged
doing anything in opposition to the world system
(which will accept anything except exact OBEDIENCE to God)
 this system is in league with satan,
who is the god of this world,
and with the flesh which loves the world
'all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes
and the boastful pride of life,
is not from the Father,
but is from the world. I john 2.16

there are at least three very strong chains here:
habits, social mores and the commandments and teachings of men.
it should give pause to all those who would obey the word,
that Jesus Christ was put to death by the religious.
habit likewise is a very subtle but powerful agency,
in the life of an individual,
as well as in the life of a community.
to utterly shatter one or two of these iron fetters,
is a feat that is rarely accomplished.
to be free of all three is a license to die.

because of these
those seeming of the most rocklike nature,
without divine aid,
move subtly, but really,
away from resolute obedience to the clear cut commands.
we  become 'careful', 'prudent', 'respected' and 'enmeshed'....
well respected in this life, but
opposite 'the scum of the earth' and
the 'despised and rejected of men'.
all must fall, even our heads
to the cause of truth..the cause of Christ.
but what a thicket of opposition would silently, subtly, smilingly
blunt the gleaming, razor sharp edge.
we all are prone to, we all abound in
wicked hesitations and subconscious calculations
with the result that we end up
fearing men
rather than the One before whom we will stand
and hear the eternal answer.

we TEMPORIZE...
from middle latin temporizare - to pass the time of day
1. act to suit the time or occasion 
2. yield to the current or dominant opinion or
COMPROMISE (from latin com (with) + promittere-to promise)
1a.the process or result of settlement by arbitration
b. something blending the characteristics of 2 others
2. a committal to something prejudicial: surrender

so when a person temporizes, subconsciously or consciously,
instead of just acting on the clear and forthright command of Jesus,
over time
he learns to tailor his obedience to (ie. compromise with)
 the human reaction he receives.
most of these humans are the sons of disobedience
referred to in ephesians 2.2,
(dead in trespasses and sins)
in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

when we act to suit the time we are in,
any occasion is automatically decided against us
clearly, confidently and unashamedly obeying Christ.
the flow of current or dominant opinion is always against that.
that is why the bible clearly states that
'all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus
WILL BE PERSECUTED'.

(so each of us who thinks we are a follower of Jesus Christ
have in this a mirror which infallibly shows whether we
are real or pretend.
since everyone around us is evil (as we are evil)
this means that the vast majority of the time-
if we are out in the world being salt and light like we're told,
seeking and saving the lost
(rather than self-ghettoized in 'church' activities
or hiding in 'devoting our lives to our families'
or any number of similar dodges)
we are, most of the time, gonna get it in the neck...
bloody, messy, horrible...
just what you'd expect of a follower of  Jesus.)

if you just want to be NICE
and a faithful attender at churchmeetings
and such,
you have probably
at some level or other
chosen to compromise..
to stay out of all that mess.

in this situation you and others of the same mind among the churchgoers
submit to arbitration. (involves one with (literally) 'the power to decide',
and we know him as satan, the god of this world
he inwardly delights in the most awful specters,
for he holds an unqualified hatred for us created in God's image creatures.
but he has learned that raw evil
and the results of raw evil,
are subject to the law of diminishing returns
and actually start to drive the dead in trespasses and sins to the hated
Redeemer God.
things work best for his program here
if there is not too much evident evil,
if niceness is the mask that hides wickedness.
this seems to have the highest yield
of those, churched and unchurched, who are heading
down the wide road,
the easy way,
that ends in destruction.
he's a master of stirring up
and blending
good and evil...
behind the gentile mask
there is the reality,
(for the obedient to Christ believer)
of SURRENDER to 'the program'.
this of course spell eternal spiritual battle
between those subject to God
and the resisting satan.