Again I am looking more deeply into the corrosion of the church and gospel through the false doctrines of mans religions that run along side the true church that keep mans eyes blinded and ears from hearing GOD. As spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:15-22 where verses 18-19 speak more pointedly to the effects of disrespecting GOD and His messenger through the agency of Jesus who introduced Christ to the world of ignorant men. I have looked at verse 14-16 of 1Corinthians 2 which is a separate thought from the initial thought of verses 6-13 but because of their closeness they are plainly part of the whole, by way of pointing out the inherent weakness of man and his religions many systems of continued deceptions. Today's post will look at two more areas in this process, these are natural mans evil heart and its grossness. Later the LORD will I will look into Social and Political Corruption.
Characteristics of an Evil Heart:
Stubbornness, as seen in Ecclesiastes 8:11 of verses 10-13.
Madness, as seen in Ecclesiastes 9:3 of verses 2-6.
Depravity, as seen in Jeremiah 17:9 of verses 9-11.
Extortion and excess, as seen in Matthew 23:25 of verses 25-26.
Foundation-head of all evil, as seen in Mark 7:21 of verses 17-23.
Source of unbelief and covetousness, as seen in Hebrews 3:12 and 2Peter 2:14, of verses in Hebrews 3 of 7-19 and 2Peter 2 of verses 4-16.
Grossness, of mind,
Psalm 92:5-9 "How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; but You, O LORD, are on high forever. For behold, Your enemies, O LORD, for behold, Your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered."
Jeremiah 10:6-10 "There is none like You, O LORD; for You are great, and Your name is great in might. Who would not fear [reverence] You, O King of the nations? For this is Your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like You. They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men. But the LORD is the true God; HE is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure His indignation."
Jeremiah 51:15-23 "It is He Who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heavens. When He utters His voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and He brings forth the wind from His storehouses. Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. Not like these is He Who is the portion of Jacob, for He is the one Who formed [fashioned] all things, and Israel is the tribe [scepter or a branch] of His inheritance; the LORD of hosts is His name. "You are My hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer; with you I break in pieces man and woman; with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth; with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman; with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team; with you I break in pieces governors and commanders."
Daniel 4:13-18 "I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus: 'Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind [heart] be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will and sets over it the lowliest of men.' This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. And you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you."
Matthew 13:10-17 "Then the disciples came and said to Jesus, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their [for them the] case the prophecy of Isaiah (6:9; 10, Psalm 119:70, Zechariah 7:11) is fulfilled that says: "'"You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive." For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
Titus 1:10-16 "For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work."
2Peter 2:4-16 "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if HE did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when HE brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes HE condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if HE rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the LORD knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the LORD. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness."
Jude 8-13 "Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The LORD rebuke you." For these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever."
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