Know No Evil

“Love is longsuffering and is kind; love does not envy; love does not boast itself, is not puffed up; does not behave indecently, does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.”  1st Corinthians 13:4-8a

 

The other day a group of us listened to a guest sermon of a pastor who has a Church in Australia.  The speaker of the sermon went over several items dealing with apostasy in the churches, as well as the pagan origins of the Roman Catholic Church.  As I sat there and listened, suddenly what had been on my mind to write about, this article, became firmly founded.  Though this speaker would be ridiculed or shown the exit door in most any church in America, he was spot on, in fact he could have gone further.

 

If one thinks about it, and we are going to address those who call themselves Christians, to know no evil is a far cry from the direction that the apostate churches currently have headed.  Let’s set the foundation for this topic, let this argument sink down into your soul and understand just how far away from righteousness that those who call themselves Christians really are.

 

“For no one is able to lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  1st Corinthians 3:11

 

So we will start off with the firm foundation, which is Jesus Christ.  In Him we are Saved, through repentance and by faith believing the Gospel.  Let’s explore this a moment more:

 

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men that is required for us to be saved.”  Acts 4:12

 

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has established a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed. He has given assurance of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”  Acts 17:30-31

 

…“testifying both to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Acts 20:21

 

Now those who are in Christ, those who have truly repented and by faith believed into Jesus as their Lord and Savior, this is the foundation.  Consider the opening verses regarding love and consider these as well.

 

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born from God, and everyone who loves Him who begets also loves him who is begotten from Him.  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.  For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.  For whatever is born from God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith.”  1st John 5:1-4

 

“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all?  Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”  Mark 12:28-31

 

So now California has pending legislation that would ban licensed counselors from telling men who think they are women, who come for counseling, that they are indeed a man.  To make matters worse, if this legislation passes, they would also be banned from giving them a Bible.  Nothing like letting the Word of God shed light on man’s sins, so that they man clearly see the evidence of their deeds and the contradicting nature of it, perhaps repent and be Saved.  Not in California if they get their way. 

 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is clearly recognized by them, for God has revealed it to them.  For ever since the creation of the world the unseen things of Him are clearly perceived, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they know God, they do not glorify Him as God, nor are thankful, but become vain in their reasonings, and their stupid hearts are darkened.  Professing to be wise, they become foolish, and change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.  Therefore God also gives them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who change the truth of God into the lie, and fear and serve the created things more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.  For this reason God gives them up to vile passions. For even their women change the natural use for what is contrary to nature.  Likewise also the men, abandoning the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men with men performing what is shameful, and receiving the retribution within themselves, the penalty which is fitting for their error.  And even as they do not like to have God in their full true knowledge, God gives them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with every unrighteousness, sexual perversion, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, depravity; whisperers,  defamers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,  without understanding, untrustworthy, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;  who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do them, but also approve of those who practice them.”  Romans 1:18-32

 

We talk about knowing no evil.  So why are those who are professing Christians, why are the churches, most of who lead the way on the broad path to destruction, dabbling or even knowing evil?  Think about it diligently for a moment, consider you ways and then we will consider where the world will ultimately go in rebellion against their Creator.  We will diligently consider the Words of the Most High, who has declared, and it will certainly come to pass, what the future holds.  We will see where all of this is going to go in the future.

 

So how about television.  What about the standards there?  Am I saying that Christians shouldn’t own a television?  No, but what I am saying is that those who are Christians should know no evil in regards to the content that they view on the television.  God is holy, we are to be holy and separate unto Him.

 

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also become holy in all conduct, because it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.”  1st Peter 1:13-16

 

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2

 

Do we laugh and watch the raunchy content on television programs?  Do we deal with watching ‘safer’ television like HGTV and train our minds to the covetousness, lust and gay couple after gay couple?  Do we smile at the sly sexual overtones?  Do we lust at the half dressed women?  Do we mind the murders, beatings, cursings, foul mouthed programs that depict evil after evil?

 

When in the history of the world, aside from war torn, early stages of countries or countries with radical leaders, does the average man, in past times, go and see people getting murdered on a regular basis?  Where did the average person watch lewd women walking about half dressed?  Certainly it happens, certainly it has happened, but now let’s be specific and talk about you.

 

I could imagine some will say, I have seen it, I have seen it.  There are obvious bad neighborhoods throughout the United States, and indeed the world.  In all of my life I have yet to witness a shooting, except on television, in all of my life I have yet to see the bodies of those just gunned down lying in the street.  Yet, I am no stranger to the world, I have lived in places that are not safe.  I have had a gun pulled on me, I have been shot at, I have seen a drive-by shooting happen on the next block, but yet if I turned on the television, I can see men shooting at each other on a regular basis, bloody bodies lying in the street, oftentimes justified by some sort of street justice, further lowering the moral values of the viewers and pushing moral relativism.  Yet the Word of God clearly proclaims that those who are His should know no evil.

 

So think about it, you can’t do nothing about what you run across, what happens in your neighborhoods or cities, but are you going to know evil by watching the absolute filth on your television?  Are you going to mingle with the sodomites via the television?  Are you going to listen to filthy trash music that frequently mixes satanic rituals in their music videos and the words of their lutes?!  Know no evil!

 

Take a look at the Word of God, dust off you Bible and know what your Creator says. 

 

“To whom then will you compare the Mighty God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?”  Isaiah 40:18

 

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?  It is He who sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;  Who brings the rulers to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth as nothing.  Indeed, they shall not be planted; indeed, they shall not be sown. Indeed, their stump shall not take root in the earth. And He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the tempest shall take them away like stubble.  To whom then will you compare Me, or with whom am I equal? says the Holy One.  Lift up your eyes on high, and consider who has created these things, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power; not one is missing.  Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from Jehovah and my judgment is passed over by God?  Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the eternal God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow faint nor weary? His understanding is unsearchable.”  Isaiah 40:21-28

 

 

“But now thus says Jehovah who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; nor shall the flame consume you.  For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you.  Since you were precious in My eyes, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life.  Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west.  I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth;  everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.  Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.  Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and cause us to hear former things? Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is true.  You are My witnesses, says Jehovah, and My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be after Me.  I, even I, am Jehovah; and there is no one to save besides Me.  I have declared and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says Jehovah, that I am the Mighty God.  Yea, before the day was, I am He; and no one can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?  Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought them all down as fugitives, and the Chaldeans, who shout in their ships.  I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”  Isaiah 43:1-15

 

Know what God says, know what His standards are, know no evil!  Love the Lord, your Savior, if indeed you are Saved, if you are in Christ.

 

For the time will come when man will refuse to repent of their murders and sexual immoralities.  They will refuse to repent, despite the just Judgments of the Almighty, who still has mercy to those who are willing to repent and believe, are coming in full.  Instead the masses will gather, the nations will gather at Armageddon, to what, fight God!

 

“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not do homage to demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which are not able to see nor hear nor walk.  And they did not repent of their murders nor their sorceries nor their sexual perversions nor their thefts.”  Revelation 9:20-21

 

Then the truth of the matter will be fully known.  Then the real reason behind the rebellion of this world will be clear for all to see.  The nations will line up, they will be ready, they are so deluded with sin that they are preparing for battle with their Creator.  Though man can’t look at the sun, though man couldn’t swim across and ocean, they will pretend they are strong.  They will gather and prepare to fight God.  God will respond.

 

“Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate a war; wake up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong.  Assemble yourselves and come, all you nations; and gather yourselves together all around. O Jehovah, bring down Your mighty ones.  Let the nations be awakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the nations all around.  Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down, for the press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.”  Joel 3:9-14

 

At that time, at that moment Jesus Christ will return with all of the Saints, myself included, the battle stage will be set, yet the nations will not be able to begin.  Before the battle begins it is over, before the war starts, they are gone.  As a vapor, so they are gone.  The blood is deep and their sin has destroyed them, they too will be Judged by their Creator at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15).

 

“Come near, you nations, to hear; and you people, pay attention; let the earth hear, and its fullness; the world, and all its offspring.  For the wrath of Jehovah is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them, He has delivered them to the slaughter.  Also their slain shall be thrown out, and their stench shall come up out of their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.  And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; and all their host shall wither, as a leaf withers off the vine, and as fruit falling from the fig tree.”  Isaiah 34:1-4

 

“And I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.  And He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies in Heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and pure, followed Him on white horses.  And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He might strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.  And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of the heavens, Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.  And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.  And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he led astray those who received the mark of the beast and those who did homage to his image. These two were cast alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.  And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded out of the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.”  Revelation 19:11-21

 

“So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.  And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came forth out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, by a distance of one thousand six hundred furlongs.”  Revelation 14:19-20

 

If you are a true Believer, look at the things in your life.  Look at the television programs you watch, the websites you visit, the music you listen to, the things you own, the stuff you do in your free time and if there is any inkling of evil, through it out.  Pound it into dust and let it blow in the wind.  For God will repay the unsaved for their ways, as Christians we should simply know no evil.

 

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”  1st John 3:1-3

 

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to shame.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”  Jacob (James) 4:7-10

 

“Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.  And he did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.  For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the groves, the graven images, and the molten images.  They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the groves, the graven images, and the molten images he broke in pieces, and pulverized them and scattered them on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.  He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem; and also in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around; with chopping tools.  When he had broken down the altars and the groves, had beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.”  2nd Chronicles 34:1-7

 

Amen!