Bitter

More often than not, the truth is bitter to the taste. It’s why people go out of their way to sugarcoat it, dilute it, add to it, or take away from it to the point that it no longer resembles the truth by the time they’re done.

If you set out to make a pizza but eliminate the sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and pineapple, you can no longer call it pizza. What you have is a version of pita bread. If you insist on calling it pizza and expect me to go along with the farce, you have another thing coming.

I understand that calling things what they aren’t has become a national sport of late. Still, even with the passivity and gullibility of the average Joe, there is a grassroots rebellion taking shape that will not be squelched, no matter how loudly some might insist that an apple is an orange or a boy is a girl.

I’ve heard it said more than once by people with degrees and honorary doctorates in theology that the reason God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing to do with the obvious. It wasn’t that they gave themselves over to sexual immorality and went after strange flesh that brought about the wrath of God; it was being inhospitable to strangers that did it.

By their telling, God could suffer the wickedness, perversion, and hedonism just fine. It was the lack of hospitality that made the cup of His wrath overflow.

Like faithful lemmings without the ability of rational thought, people began to parrot this lunacy until simply quoting scripture became anathema and something contrary to the newly adopted narrative.

Granted, an online degree from the Creflo Dollar School of Ministry may be worth its weight in gold, but it does not supersede the Bible, no matter how much men might like it to be so.

Jude 6-7, “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

I tried to find the lack of hospitality in these verses as the reason for suffering the vengeance of eternal fire but to no avail. Is this me trying to be mean and unloving? On the contrary, love compels the servants of God to speak the truth and call men to repentance.

I find it profoundly disturbing that the supposed people of God would cheer the masses as they march in lockstep toward hell. If your soul is not vexed by the conduct of those who live ungodly, if, as Lot, the filthy conduct of the wicked does not oppress you, are you as one who is righteous?

Hard question to be sure, and for many in this generation, a bitter pill to swallow, but nevertheless true and of great import.

Suppose you compare and contrast Peter’s writings to Jude’s. In that case, you can’t help but notice the similarities and historical examples both men drew upon to make the point that God is just, righteous, and holy. He will not compromise His righteousness for anyone at any time.

This needs to be said because too few are saying it. The gospel must be preached because it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. If we do not preach the gospel, the lost cannot know it, and if they do not know it, they can never believe and be saved.

It’s not loving to validate, celebrate, or embrace sin. It’s not loving to turn a blind eye to depravity and pretend as though God will not judge it as decisively as He did in the past.

Sin is sin, but there are certain sins that men give themselves over to so completely that it becomes the sum total of who they are and who they see themselves as. It becomes the entirety of their existence, and everything in life revolves around that singular lust. They revel in it, are consumed by it, and pursue it incessantly until they either hear the gospel and repent or their depravity consumes them utterly.

The world may see fit to normalize depravity, but the Word of God does not, and the children of God should not.

When you look at the numbers, it’s disheartening. Eight souls were spared the destruction of the ancient world. Three were spared the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The righteous will never be a majority, and the prerequisite for being saved from destruction is godliness.

God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, but He also knows to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. While the godly pursue righteousness, holiness, and sanctification, the ungodly will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Both race in opposite directions, one toward the light, the other toward an ever-deepening darkness. Hence the reason yesterday’s depravity will not satisfy tomorrow’s desires, and yesterday’s knowledge of God will not suffice today’s yearning.

Just as the world grows darker daily, the children of God grow brighter still. This life is a journey wherein we must daily work out our salvation with fear and trembling, being perfected in Him, through Him, and by Him.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.