Posted on 02/12/2019 1:24:57 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.( John 3:18-20)
Unrepentant men hate the light of God; they shun it, run from it and seek to obscure it. They do not want to be exposed in their true (fallen) nature. They prefer the imaginations of their own heart, over the Word of God which is full of light.
This is why the sinners are estranged from God. They cannot fellowship with God, because they refuse to come to an agreement with God about reality. As we said in an earlier article, the only prerequisite for fellowship with God is to come not the light, but evil men don’t want to be exposed.
Sinners don’t want the Bible, they don’t want to read it or hear about its message, because the Bible is full of light. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my Path”. Those who seek God and read the Bible see themselves through the eyes of God, they see what is wrong with themselves, and what is wrong with the world.
But sinners prefer their own narrative about the problems of the world or the human condition. They prefer the darkness of Psychology, or some of the various human centered philosophies which have developed as an alternative to the Word of God.
Whenever humanistic Philosophies become enacted into politics and government, then Christians , the Bible, the Jews, and the true church become the public enemy number 1. Unrepentant people hate the light, and love the darkness. they tend to persecute the light, and seek to stamp it out.
When Darwinism gave pseudo scientific credibility to Atheism, men dropped out of church, ministers left their pulpits and seminaries started cranking out atheistic infidels, grateful to Darwin for delivering them from the light of God. They hated the light all along but needed Darwin to give them permission to reject it. Sinners hate the light and love darkness. Darwin is so popular in post Christian Britain, he graces the ten pound note!
They don’t want to know God. Paul tells us they do not want to retain God ion their knowledge, they prefer the darkness of naturalism, or of materialistic atheism. They are not guilty of “not knowing” but of rejecting what they do know!
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. (Romans 1:18-19)
Darkness is the lure of the so called “Occult”. The word “Occult” means the secrets, or that which is hidden. Evil men love to think there is a some hidden, and forbidden Wisdom, kept from humanity by God himself. his goes back to the garden of Eden itself. Satan posed as an “enlightener”, a Lucifer,(Lit Light Bearer), teaching the secret of godhood which the LORD God had supposedly withheld from the first couple.
Fallen men find these “secret’ things almost irresistible, but they ignore the true Word, of God who is light. They want to be in on the forbidden knowledge, but have no patience for the teachings of the “old Paths” set forth by the Creator and which are available to anyone who wants to obey and be reconciled to God.
It is this self willed autonomy from God which is the very definition of spiritual darkness, this attempt to evade and elude the Light of God, and to refuse to acknowledge or even to open one’s soul to the true light, and it includes the preference for the hidden, the “Occult” the ‘other way’ which Satan presents to the human race which will finally result in an everlasting blackness and darkness forever. In the End men will be granted what they really Love the most!
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.(Jude 11-13)
Indeed! Most people worship evil.
Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have a rich understanding. His praise endures forever!
Ecclesiastes 12:13
When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.
“Doth not evil believe altogether in its own rightness?”
Stephen R. Donaldson
(He is not a Christian, but some of his characters are remarkably moral.)
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