The Smiling Church Where Jesus Christ Is The Star!

By: Assistant Pastor, C.L. Green

2 Timothy 3: 1 – 2 – Paul says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy”. Verse 6 picks up with, “For of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, EVER LEARNING, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”.

Ever learning. Continuously learning. Non-stop learning. Sitting in church, hearing the gospel. Hearing tapes by ministers. Going to all the events and retreats that they can find. Hearing the Word. Listening. Learning. EVER LEARNING.

I’ll share with you a letter I received several years ago from a woman whom I’ll call “Alma”. Keep in mind that she goes to a church. She reads the bible. She is “ever learning”.

….Back about 8 or 9 years ago I prayed and asked the Lord to send someone in my life. I have always heard ask God for what you want and be specific.
Well about a year after that, I met someone through a mutual friend and I thought at the time this is who God sent to me, only to find out 5 years later that he was not the one. But my experience with him made me turn to the Lord for help. I loved this man with all my heart and soul. I guess that’s why it’s been a struggle for me to get over him (because I have learned about soul ties). Anyway, there was nothing I would not do for him. All I wanted  for him to do was to be true to me and he wasn’t.

We had been to church together a few times and we were happy, so I thought. Then I found out this man was cheating on me and plus we could not get married because he was already married. I was the giver in our relationship and he was the receiver. I try not to harp on this because some of the things I gave him, I did it from my heart and I believe God allowed me to receive those exact same items that I had given him back. I think aboutgive and it shall come back to you press down and shaken together.

I have been hurt in several different relationships and I am beginning to wonder why and what is it that I am doing wrong. I have been crying for months and seeking a word from God to tell me what to do. I believe God removed him out of my life because I asked Him to but I did not know it would hurt so bad and break my heart to pieces. [edit…..due to length I removed part of letter]

This long letter ends with:

I have to pray every day not to be double minded (I mean praying asking God to bring this person back in my life because I miss him so much and I am still in love with him after nine months). I contacted him a few weeks ago trying to get him to come back to me and he rejected me. I was hurt all over again and then I got mad at God for allowing me to go through this pain. But I think it’s all for my good and God has a purpose for me and my life. I just wish I knew what it was. I feel empty and broken on the inside. I want to stop loving this man and not hate him and be forgiving just as God has forgiven me…

Thanks you,
Alma

Over the years I have received many letters from women like Alma. Such women, out of loneliness ignore scriptures and become what Paul calls “silly women”. They allow themselves to be abused in the name of having a man.

There were several red flags in Alma’s case:

1. It took her five years to figure out that this was not the right man. Question, where was God in all this? Why was she under the impression that God would send this man into her life?
2. She found out he was “cheating” on her, apparently with another mistress.
3. She indicated that she knew she could not marry him anyway because he was already married.  Isn’t that Elementary Christianity 101?  Thou shalt not commit adultery!  I have to pause there because clearly in the 9 years that she was with this married man, sneaking around meeting with him—she had to know that she was in sin.  YET…she started off her letter making it clear that she believed that God had sent this married man into her life.  Ever learning. Every learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.  Silly women.
4. She admitted that she was the “giver” and her married man was the “receiver”.  That’s so backwards. Heaven only knows what all she lost why trying to purchase another woman’s husband.

Sadly, after all that pain, she attempted to rekindle her relationship with the married man and he rejected her.  Every learning. Alma spoke of not wanting to be double minded. Ever learning!  Clearly she knows the scriptures.

In Proverbs 29:3 we learn that adultery brings forth poverty. Alma has given plenty and would do well to run before she has nothing left.  In John 8:1:11, Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more”.  Surely Alma is familiar with that common scripture. Ever learning.

What is the root of the “ever learning” crew who know the Word and ignore it?  In 2 Timothy 3:6 the Apostle Paul said that such women are “silly”. In verse 5 he said that they have a form of godliness.  And then in 2 Timothy, verse 4 the Apostle Paul indicated that such women [and men] are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

The scriptures advise us to examine ourselves.  If we find ourselves lacking…ever learning, we need to get right with God.

Feel free to stop by Followers of Christ Church any Sunday at 11:00 to hear God’s Word, untainted and raw.  Blessings to you!