In this series we are examining God’s Words relative to His commands to be pure and free of sin in all areas of our lives. We are examining His commands relative to the tongue, the body, the heart (mind), the ears and the eyes. When we fail to control these body parts and expect forgiveness when we inevitably sin we make Jesus our “MINISTER OF SIN.” We previously researched what He commanded concerning the tongue and the body. Let us move on to other areas of our being which must conform to the Lord’s expectations in order to receive the promises He promises those who obey Him now and in the future. Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 for such information.

THE MIND/HEART: “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is” (Prov. 23:7). What the vast majority of people were anciently and are today was described by Moses in Genesis 6:5: “And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that EVERY IMAGINATION OF THE THOUGHTS OF HIS HEART (MIND) WAS (IS) ONLY ABOUT EVIL.” This change in man’s thinking process began soon after the Serpent’s chat with Eve. Nothing has changed. What does God have to say about it? Man’s attitude toward God’s commanded mental and physical behavior first mentioned in Genesis 6:5 permeates the world today. Let us see what God thinks about the world’s masses.

Through the Apostle Paul writing in Philippians 4:8 the Almighty commands man to think ONLY on things that please Him. How many people know what pleases God? How many would obey Him if He told them? which He does in His Holy Bible, which is the most purchased and most stolen book in the history of printing. The problem is that few want to know how to please God. Fewer know how to do so and even fewer choose to do so. Remember that the Bible was written to, for and about those who are “called by God’s name.” The only time Gentiles are mentioned is when they come into contact with Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament.

Proverbs 24:7 tells us that foolish thoughts are unwise–meaning that they are the thoughts of a fool. Satan controls the hearts (minds) of all sinners–including those who are supposedly saved by grace (Acts 5:3). Paul told the Hebrew Christians that the sinners among them did not know God’s ways and therefore went astray (Heb. 3:10). Their thoughts, words and acts were contrary to God’s will. We must remember that every thought has a causative agent that stimulates its creation. The two main avenues by which a stimulus enters the mind and creates thoughts are the ears and the eyes.

THE EARS: Adam and Eve chose to hear the words of the Serpent rather than the Words of the God Who created them. The Serpent’s words were much more pleasing to them because they gave them the power to determine right and wrong. The forbidden fruit, Eve quickly determined, would make them “wise” (Gen. 3:6), meaning wiser than God. Unregenerated man hears what he wants to hear. Initially, Adam and Eve wanted to hear God’s Words about everything He had created for them, what HE REQUIRED THEM TO DO relative to that creation, etc. But when the Serpent told them that THEY COULD DO WHATEVER THEY WANTED TO DO and still receive eternal life, everything changed. After all, who wouldn’t want to do what he/she wants to do if the reward is the same as for obeying the strict dictates of God? Adam and Eve wasted no time in making the self-centered choice. There is a group who have followed in Adam and Eve’s religious footsteps and for the same reason–the group calls itself “the church.”

The church’s false prophets make a living telling people what they want to hear. That is why I do not make a living that way. I tell people what they do not want to hear–God’s Word. In all the years I have been speaking and writing God’s Truth I have not once been invited to speak to a religious group. While I was preaching church truth I was very popular. But when I began speaking God’s Truth I immediately became a spiritual leper. Nothing has changed.

In Genesis 15 we find God promising Abraham and Sarai a son. Sarai did not believe what she was heard the Lord say. She then convinced Abraham to doubt God. The result is the Islam-versus-Israel situation we are witnessing on the news today. In Exodus 20 God gave the Israelites His Law from atop Mt. Sinai (Horeb) in an audible voice. When things did not take place according to their schedule they began to doubt what He had said to them. The result has been a sordid history of sin and degradation. The Israelites told God’s prophet to stop preaching His Words. They wanted to hear smooth things, lies and deceits (Isa. 30:9,10). The result was one problem after another, ending in national defeat and enslavement. That scenario will play out again in the near future. This time it will involve the United States, Britain and the Jews of the Middle East who will be defeated, slaughtered, enslaved and scattered throughout the earth (read Lev. 26 and Deut. 28).

In Second Timothy 4:1 Paul warns that in the latter days many would turn away from God and would listen to their hirelings who would scratch their itching ears by telling them what they want to hear. Sound familiar? The following passages describe those super-religious, God-rejecting “Christian nations” which, like their Israelite ancestors, are spiritually deaf. Acts 28:27 tells us that those who will not hear God’s Word are dull of hearing by choice. Those who become spiritually deaf have seared their conscience as with a hot iron (Rom. 11;8). Only those who hear (and obey) God are of God (Jn. 8:47). Jesus prophesied that they would be few in number (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14).

THE EYES: In John 12:34-40 Jesus Christ declares that He–the Son of God–blinds the eyes and hardens the hearts of those who do not believe His Words. I have seen Him do this to people standing in front of me. I have seen their facial countenance change as I spoke to them about God’s word. I watched as Christ’s warning of blindness came to pass. It was not a pleasant sight. In verses 44-50 Jesus calls His Words His light that illuminates the darkness that permeates the world, including the religious world, which has chosen Satan’s darkness over God’s light. Need proof? Where are cars parked en masse on Sunday morning? Try showing one of those people God’s command to “… remember THE (HIS 7th DAY) Sabbath and keep IT holy.” This is THE day He BLESSED AND SANCTIFIED, THE DAY HE CALLS “MY HOLY DAY” (Gen. 2:1-3/ Isa. 58:13). Read the Sabbath series. Key word–Sabbath.

“I know all I need to know” is a common theme within the Christian community. What they “know” is John 3:16 and little else. And they manage to get that wrong. “Headline hunters” refuse to see God’s “fine print” that fills the Bible. And when that part of the Scriptures is pointed out to them they reject it, thereby rejecting both the Father and the Son (Lk. 10:16). People’s eyes spiritually glaze over when told what is written in the Book they claim is God’s Truth is read to them. And Who blinds them? Jesus Christ. Why? Because they refuse to see what is written in the Truth Tome they proudly display on their coffee tables. Evidently, too much of God is not a good thing.

In Matthew 6:22 we are told that the eye is the light (window) of (into) the soul. What we choose to see enters our innermost being whose center is the mind where everything we think, say and do–what we are–begins. What we choose to see directly affects our entire being. One of the major sins of the world’s people is idolatry–addiction to a screen. I have mentioned before how I have seen people lifting a weight with one hand while holding their fiberglass idol in the other hand. I see people sitting on sidewalks, beside highways holding signs pleading for money of food. But they all seem to have an idol–their pocket-sized, one-eyed god. Prime time television is filled with sin–murder, cheating, lying, theft, adultery, nudity which fills the hearts of multiplied millions of people each day. Sports dominates the minds of many people. Sports consumes huge amounts of time in the Western world, as does pornography. But by far the most powerful idol are the little ones people cannot be caught without.

Billions of hours are spent watching screens of all sizes. I have sat in the presence of people who are gathered together for the purpose of visiting with one another. Only one of us would NOT be staring into a screen.

The typical churchite (for whom this ministry was created) will spend from three to five hours each day gazing into a screen outside of work (and some during work). Then they feel like they are doing God a favor by giving Him a few minutes of Bible reading during the dregs of the day. I know a man who has been fired twice (that I know of) because of on-the-job idol worshiping. Such idolaters have no inner life. Everything they care about comes from outside their minds through their eyes and ears. God commands that we “redeem the time” He has given us for the purpose of learning His ways (Eph. 5:15-17). To “redeem” means to take back. Satan robs man of his free time by offering him external distractions, none of which is good. Those who will join the Lord in the hereafter take back free time and use it to learn about, believe, worship and obey the Owner of the hereafter. In Psalm 101:1 the Psalmist writes: “I will set no evil before my eyes.” David knew that what he saw went directly into the mind and remained there. Salvation-seeking man deliberately sets evil before his eyes and leaves it there for hours each day, just like those in the world that he insists on emulating.

I will close this series with Words Jesus spoke to men who knew the Holy Scriptures but refused to obey them: “You do not believe Me because YOU ARE OF YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL” (Jn. 8:43,44). In Matthew 15:9 He identifies such people as those who: “… teach the commandments of men instead of My commandments.” Combined, those commandments are called “church doctrine.” In Luke 13:27 Jesus summarizes His attitude toward these counterfeit Christians this way: “I will say to you on that (Judgment) day, “I never knew you; depart from me all you workers of iniquity (Lawlessness).” Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. L.J.