PERNICIOUS

Pernicious is not a common word in most vocabularies, IT SHOULD BE. In medicine we refer to pernicious anemia, subtle malnutrition of tissue. Anything pernicious is insidious...slow...harmful...ruinous, evil, often fatal. In my lifetime, I have seen a pernicious lackadaisical attitude toward life take over almost totally. The most pernicious thought to invade the mind of mankind, why would creations of God CHOOSE evil instead of good? Lies instead of truth? Sickness instead of health? And yet, we see this happening every day of our lives...often slow, subtle, addictive before we realize what is happening.

We know better. We know that Satan and 1/3 of the angels in Heaven were kicked out of Heaven, gained possession of the earth, because of their pride and disobedience. Lying, cheating, stealing, misquoting scripture, temptation, it all started in the Garden of Eden with the first human beings.

God gave them, and us, “free will”, the right to choose who they would follow. “Choose this day who you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Surely, any intelligent person would think that one would choose light instead of darkness (John 3:19), health instead of sickness (Isaiah 53), the righteousness of Christ instead of the debacle of Satan (Hebrews 1:3).

One saying he does not believe in God is like the mosquito on the railroad track, rapidly approaching locomotive, the mosquito shouting, “I don't believe in you”.

One can only imagine the apostle Paul on the Acropolis, Athens, Mars Hill, talking to the philosophers of his day. It would be like you trying to convince today's academics, scientists about the reality of comic book characters.

The Christian church has been captivated by the “tares” of the world, a pseudo religionist, who want to hang on to the world and become a follower of Christ in a one-hour a week “so-called” worship experience. Christianity is a 24-hour a day life existence. Young people leave the church because, from the pulpit and the pew, they have been taught feeling not faith. Faith is a fact. Faith is a constant verb, constant action in everything you do (action based on belief sustained by confidence).

When ¼ of all babies are killed before birth (abortion), when 52% of all black babies are aborted, when, in direct conflict with God's word, even church goers support such heresy as same sex marriage, homosexuals in the pulpits, the infiltration of our military services with homosexuals, we can know, without a shadow of doubt, pernicious decadence has taken over.

God, who made the world and everything in it, in the image of Himself and his Son, desired fellowship with a group of people with whom they could spend eternity. God is omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign and perhaps He knew just how evil human beings could become. So, with the exception of 8 souls, Noah and his family and the animals he chose to save, He killed them all in the Great Flood around 5000bc. Next, He put all under law with the blessings and curses of keeping and not keeping the law (Deuteronomy 28). The Old Testament gives us the history of His chosen nation, the Jews. The Bible is mostly a history of one people, the Jews and the effect on gentiles, the rest of us as we effect the Jews. God Himself, came to earth to live the perfect life. Thirteen times in the world's greatest sermon, The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6), the God-man, Jesus Christ said, “Ye have heard but I say to you.” Jesus preached Himself but, His perfect life, perfect words, perfect atonement would mean nothing without His perfect resurrection from the dead...wherein, through grace, by faith, we are saved to spend eternity with Him. Most evil doers, those who choose not to believe, do not think they will go to Hell, that some belief – work system will save them. The tragedy, many who fill church pews are under the same misconception...the most pernicious lie Satan has ever produced. The average church goer believes they can hold on to the world with one hand, the church with the other. That they can act like the world, dress like the world, enjoy the same activities of the world and still call themselves “Christ-like”. (He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Psalm 91:1-4).

Faith has been pictured – described as the safety – protection found under a mother bird's wing or cleft in a rock. Christians will never know the blessedness of being chosen by God. We condemn other religious beliefs but the Muslims do not abort their babies, put addictive substances into their bodies. Christians have always put God on trial, God has us on trial. Jesus was a good, wise teacher, fulfilled the law, lived a perfect life. His faith in going to the cross, raised from the dead, ascending into Heaven, fulfilling every promise concerning the wrath of God, did not include our perniciousness.