Righteous Reprogramming

Avoiding Rabbit Trails Stay aware of the enemy's tactic of sidetracking with "rabbit trails." Occasionally people have a genuine difficulty with "Darwin's theory," "hypocrites in the Church," etc., but in most cases they are nothing but "hedges." Sinners tend to make hedges, behind which they try to hide from God, as did Adam. The best way to get a sinner out from behind a hedge is to beat it with the rod of the Law, so that he stands exposed before his Creator. Get him to admit that he has lied, stolen, and looked with lust. If he says, "I don't believe in Judgment Day," just gently say, "That doesn't matter, you will still have to face God on Judgment Day, and you've admitted that you are a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart. God gave you a conscience so that you would know right from wrong. You will have no excuse." There goes another minute. Gone forever. Go share your faith while you still have time.

Are Your Crazy? When a politician once suggested that in the light of natural disasters, we should examine ourselves morally as a nation, his interviewer was infuriated. He couldn't believe for a moment that God had anything to do with natural disasters that take human life. The interviewer said, "When men came to Jesus in Luke 13, and asked about a tower that had fallen on eighteen men and killed them, asking if God had anything to do with it, Jesus answered "Are you crazy!?!'" Not quite. Jesus actually warned those who asked that question, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." While none of us can say for sure when God sends judgment, when natural disasters take human life we should fear God and obey His command to repent and trust the Savior, or we will perish. That's the message we should never fear to give. There goes another minute. Gone forever. Go share your faith while you still have time.

Serial Liars Back in 199l, 20,000 middle- and high-school students were surveyed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics-a nonprofit organization in Marina del Rey, California, devoted to character education. Ninety-two percent of the teenagers admitted having lied to their parents in the previous year, and 73 percent characterized themselves as "serial liars," meaning they told lies weekly. Despite these admissions, 91 percent of all respondents said they were "satisfied with my own ethics and character."(Reader's Digest, November 1999) They were satisfied with their own ethics because they were ignorant of God's ethics, and the standard by which He will judge them on Judgment Day. These kids are typical of today's generation, and they need to be confronted with God's Law to show them God's righteousness, and the terrible result of bearing false witness. The Bible warns, "All liars will have their part in the lake of fire."(Revelation 21:8) There goes another minute. Gone forever. Go share your faith while you still have time.