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A Daily Devotional By Bill Keller
My God Richly Bless You.
In this nation, the Christian faith is now seen by most to be "extreme". This has been an effective way the non-believing world has found to intimidate Believers into silence and keep them out of the marketplace. Sadly it has worked!
Why are we called extreme? We believe the Bible to be God's inspired, inerrant Word representing Absolute Truth and our final authority in all matters. Based on God's Word that it is the ONLY Truth, it makes all of the other religions, belief systems and philosophies false. Based on God's Word, it means those who deny faith in Jesus Christ will go to hell. I'm not the one who calls all of the other religions and philosophies in the world false, God is! I'm not the one who has determined who will go to Heaven and hell, God already did!
I get so sick and tired of hearing nonbelievers, and INFURIATED when I hear Believers say, "Who are you to call someone's religion false? Who are you to tell someone that they will be going to hell?" I DIDN'T, GOD DID! IT IS IN THE BIBLE! EITHER WHAT GOD SAID IS TRUE OR IT ISN'T. THE BIBLE SAYS THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUTH, GOD'S! THE BIBLE SAYS THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO BE SAVED, FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST! THAT MEANS THE OTHER RELIGIONS AND PHILOSOPHIES ARE A LIE AND THAT ANYONE WHO DOES NOT ACCEPT CHRIST BY FAITH WILL DIE AND GO TO HELL! GOD SAID IT, NOT BILL KELLER!
We are also seen by the nonbelieving world around us as the faith who is against everything. We are against homosexuality. We are against people living together outside of marriage. We are against a woman being able to choose to kill her baby. We are against this and against that. Again, it is not us that is against these things, it is God! We didn't dream up a list of things to be against, they come from the pages of the Bible! We are simply taking a stand against the things God is against and calls sin in the Bible.
Because this world we live in has rejected God, the Truth of the Bible, and faith in Jesus Christ, they have been successful in labeling Christians as extreme. In the United States just 50 years ago, Christianity was considered mainstream. In a single generation it has gone from being mainstream to extreme. It is a faith that has gone from being loved to reviled, accepted to ridiculed. How did that happen? Gutless and compromised spiritual leaders! The flock is only as good as their shepherd. There are too many pastors and those God called to spiritual leadership who have compromised their calling by denying the Truth of the Bible or by getting caught up in building their own kingdom instead of God's Kingdom.
So it is no wonder why so many men and women who know the Lord go to work, go to school, play sports, are involved in different hobbies, face people every day out in the marketplace, and will NEVER even admit to being a Christian, let alone take a stand for Christ and the Truth of the Bible! They are petrified at being called intolerant, hateful, extreme, a bigot, and ridiculed, scorned, and abused for being a follower of Christ and standing up for the Truth of God's Word in a group of non-believers. So they simply shut up, INTIMIDATED INTO SILENCE! Why are sinners who serve satan so bold and vocal in declaring their lies while the children of God who possess the only Truth there is sit back in silence???
Is there a price to pay for speaking up for Christ? Absolutely!!! The cold hard reality is that few pastors and very few Christians are willing to pay that price. So why are we surprised we now live in a nation that mocks our faith, ridicules us for our beliefs, and continues to do everything they can to eliminate God, the Bible, and our Lord from even being mentioned in the public square! Look at what happened to Paul for taking his stand for the Lord. He was nearly killed many times before being martyred. Thrown in jail. Despised and hated everywhere he went. HE DIDN'T CARE! HE UNDERSTOOD IT WASN'T HIM THEY HATED, IT WAS CHRIST. Look at the Old Testament prophets. Same thing. The people hated them because of the message they delivered from God. Look at Steven in Acts 7. Literally stoned to death for simply declaring the Gospel. How many countless men and women over the ages have literally died for their faith!
Is there a price to pay for speaking up? Yes and the simple fact is, most won't pay it even though Jesus paid it all for them!!! The Bible says we are to pray for our enemies, to love them, and while that is not possible in the flesh it is possible in the strength God can give us.
I love you and care about you so much. YOU EITHER BELIEVE THE BIBLE OR YOU DON'T! IF YOU ARE A FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST, YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY A FOLLOWER OF THE BIBLE!!!
The other comment I hear often and it was brought up over and over on the program, is that I am not acting like Jesus. They say Jesus would never tell people they were going to hell. Really? I LOVE people who have rejected Jesus, don't even believe Jesus is who He is, but love to use Jesus as their example. I reminded them of the fact it was for telling the Truth about who He was that Jesus was put to death. It was Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and NOBODY comes to the Father but through me." That pretty much eliminates all of the false religions and cults in the world and means the ONLY way to be saved is through faith in Jesus Christ, if you believe what Jesus said! I also believe Jesus in speaking to Nicodemus in John Chapter 3 talked about people NOT PERISHING but have everlasting life if they believed in Him!
JESUS LOVED PEOPLE ENOUGH TO TELL THEM THE TRUTH ABOUT THEIR ETERNAL SOULS, AND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE LIKE JESUS, YOU WILL LOVE PEOPLE ENOUGH TO TELL THEM THE TRUTH THAT THEY WILL DIE AND GO TO HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY UNLESS THEY ACCEPT HIM INTO THEIR HEARTS AND LIVES BY FAITH!
I want to challenge you and encourage you today to take some time and pray. Pray and ask God how you can be more bold in sharing your faith with others. Pray and ask God to give you the opportunities to take a real stand for Him and for His Truth in the midst of this unbelieving world. The reason we see unbridled sin loose in our world today is that those who know the Lord and His Truth have been intimidated into silence and WE have allowed sin to take over. Over the course of one generation in this country, we have went from being right to wrong in the eyes of the masses. People no longer hold the Bible to be what it is, God's Truth for men to live by, and people like myself who go into the public arena to share that Truth now look like the extremists while those who hold to other beliefs look normal. THE TRUTH HAS BEEN EXCHANGED FOR THE LIE EXACTLY AS THE BIBLE SAID WOULD HAPPEN IN THE LAST DAYS!
Based on the number of death threats I receive each month, I know there are people out there who want to permanently silence my voice. I have been telling you for nearly 9 years now that simply sharing the Truth of God's Word in the public square will one day soon be against the law. This is why I am so passionate about what I do each day. Every day I am alive, every day Liveprayer.com is online, every day we do a TV program, the Truth of the Word is being heard by this lost and hurting generation around the world and people are finding everlasting life through faith in Jesus Christ.
For those who still haven't figured it out yet, this is not about Bill Keller, it is about Jesus Christ. I don't do this for money or fame or I would be doing what most the high profile ministers do. I live month to month depending on God to move on people's hearts to support His work here and my fame is amongst those who hate the Truth and want to see me dead. But that is OK since I know God will watch over me just like He watched over Paul, the Old Testament prophets, and so many others over the years. He will not let anything happen to me until my work here is complete. So my only job each day is to be obedient and faithful to that work. Part of that work is to challenge and motivate you to rise up and take your stand for Christ and let your voice be heard. Jesus said, "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller
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