Page 276 … Pruning the Spirit
You then move on to Matthew 7:19, and yet once again somehow fail to realize that this verse applies to you & yours far more readily than to any other “sinners”. I mean, just listen to it in its immediate context – surrounded by its accompanying verses: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:15-20) … Can you hear it now, my Friend? Can you see how this passage is actually describing you & yours (and other “Pharisees” like you)? And do you now understand what Jesus meant here by “bad fruit”, my Friend? That’s right – hypocrisy, sadness, anger, hatred, bigotry, intolerance, self-centeredness, religious zealotry, dissension, judgment of others; all the things that you & yours currently bring into being every time you criticize or cajole or condemn the sins of homosexuals! So, I guess it looks like you are the ones who will be cast first into the cleansing fire at some point, my dear, not homosexuals (or any others you have judged to be “mortal sinners”) …
No worries, though, my dear. For if my interpretation of the Scriptures proves to be correct (and it very well might be), then you will all come through this cleansing smoothly enough, and will rejoin the rest of us who will have already been purged of similar arrogance & similar aggressiveness before you …
“I baptize you with water for repentance, and yet one who is greater than I is coming after me … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” ~ Matthew 3:11
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! … Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire … Thereafter the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.” ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 12:49 & Matthew 13:40-43)
P.S. Interestingly enough, even Paul seems to have inadvertently stumbled upon this Truth when he wisely said …
“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it … For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ … The work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done … And yet if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will still be saved, as through fire.” ~ 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
P.P.S. Again I wonder aloud: Why are you struggling so mightily to prove a “lesser Jesus”, my Friend, when there is sooooo much evidence in the Bible that allows you to worship a Son and a Father of a far greater Love? … “I will not execute my fierce anger … for I Am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” ~ Hosea 11:9
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