We live in perilous time my friends. As the distance between the path that God favors and the path the world favors become increasingly wider we will find that we can no longer have a foot on each path. We will have to choose which path we will follow. And make no mistake, the choice will be costly either way. Choose the way of the world and you will leave God behind. Choose God’s way and you will face derision persecution and possibly worse. There is soon to be no middle path.
I am not a doom and gloom type of person. I consider myself to be a realist, and my wife thinks I am a skeptic ;), but Jesus told us to count the cost and be prepared to give up the world to follow Him
Luke 14
25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Likewise Joshua tells the people of Israel they cannot flirt with two Gods…you must choose one way or another, and that way has consequences
Joshua 34
14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve theLord, for He is our God.”
19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”
21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!”
22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”
And they said, “We are witnesses!”
23 “Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.”
24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”
Through out my life, as an American citizen, I have been able to stand against the worldly system and oppose it. Abortion, gay marriage, et al, but the day is coming that such opposition will no longer be free. They will pass laws forcing me to comply with their will, as they are already doing in California Schools. And I will not comply with their laws, and I will be an outlaw
Because I have counted the cost. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord
and the Lord will be with me and all who choose to serve Him
God Bless you Children of God….stay faithful