Ephesians 4:32, “And
be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
Very few believers are truly right with God in their spiritual
condition. I learned a wonderful truth from Dr. Jack Hyles long ago, about a
believer's POSITION verses their CONDITION in Christ. You can hear this
great truth in an MP3 sermon titled, “HOW TO BE RIGHT WITH GOD.”
You can be right with God POSITIONALLY, but not CONDITIONALLY. That is, you
can be saved, and your POSITION be right in Christ; but you can still have
the wrong CONDITION, and be wrong in your thinking and behavior.
For example: When the apostle
Peter sincerely told Jesus that he would fight to prevent Him from being
persecuted and killed by the scribes and Pharisees, the Lord called him
“Satan” (Matthew 16:21-23). Peter was right with God POSITIONALLY (saved),
but he was wrong CONDITIONALLY (errant in his thinking). No believer is
right with God conditionally who fails to love others.
The inspired Holy Scriptures
forbid holding a grudge against someone. James 5:9, “Grudge not one
against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth
before the door.” Anything can be justified. If you don't like somebody,
you can find dozens of excuses to hold a grudge against them. Wicked people
do it all the time! Our churches are filled today with religious snobs,
self-righteous hypocrites, who hold grudges against others. Wealthy people
in particular are notorious for holding personal grudges. I know the
heartfelt pain of being the black sheep of a church family, an outcast,
knowing the loneliness of being
rejected by a group. The real reason is a lack of God's unfeigned love
for each other. There is no love in today's churches!
In 2014, I heard the senior pastor
of Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, say from the pulpit on a Sunday morning
as I sat there listening, “Once feelings are hurt and people are offended,
it's over!” That is not the Christian way! That is the world's way! If a
pastor teaches his people that it is okay to hold grudges, then THEY WILL!
The King James Bible says in Ephesians
4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
It's over? What kind of philosophy is that for a New Testament
church?—You offended me and hurt my feelings, so IT'S OVER! That is a
shameful thing for any pastor to say from the church pulpit! If you don't
like what I am saying, then lump it! I am trying to straighten out the mess
that bad pastors are creating! The Christian way is to love one another! If
you hurt my feelings and offend me, I am commanded by God to forgive you,
and to love you unconditionally! Matthew 18:22, “Jesus saith unto him, I
say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
Mrs. Beverly Hyles
(1929-2017) used to say that, “Everything happens for a reason!” I think
about what she said quite often, because she is 100% correct. The reason for
something may merely be someone's selfishness, or the result of a lack of
genuine love for others, the love of money, or a lack of Christian maturity,
or the fear of man that bringeth a snare, or indifference and sin, but there
is always a reason for everything! John 15:12, “This is my commandment,
That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” Tragically, most
churches today function as glorified social clubs, where the financially
well-to-do are catered to, while misfits like me are outcast. Most churches
just want you to show up and financially support them, but unless you are a
boon to their social club they won't value you! That is the way of the
heathen world. Once you offend them, IT'S OVER! That is so shallow!
As I write this article, I am
listening to Mrs. Beverly Hyles (the loyal wife of Pastor Jack Hyles) sing
the beautiful song, “The
Sun Will Shine Again!,” and it sure will when we see Jesus! All the
idiots who have ganged-up to slander, criticize and call Dr. Jack Hyles “a
cult,” will regret their foolish words and actions one day in eternity! What
a beautiful godly man! NOT ONE of Pastor Hyles' critics are soulwinners!
There is not a man alive today, nor throughout the 20th century, who did as
much to win souls to the Lord Jesus Christ as Jack Hyles (1926-2001)!!!!!!!
Baptist churches today don't want soulwinning men, they want men with big
bank accounts, men with big boats, men with big houses and big reputations
in the community! God is looking for a few weak men! 2nd Corinthians
13:4, “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the
power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall
live with him by the power of God toward you.” I must
decrease, but He must increase!!!
The smallest Bible in the world is
the one that we live by as believers! No one is all that they should be. No
one has arrived. I admit that I am just a struggling sinner, trying to work
out my own salvation as the Bible says. Philippians 2:12, “Wherefore, my
beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure.” Carefully notice that we are not
commanded to work out “God's salvation,” but our “own salvation.” That
simply means we all have our own individual journey to travel in this
earthly life. All we can do is keep our eyes on Jesus, and lean not upon our
own understanding, and depart from iniquity (Proverbs 3:5-7). I get
discouraged by the selfish attitude among today's professed Christians. The
average Baptist church today has an “Us Four And No More” selfish attitude.
They already have their eternal rewards!
The inspired Word of God says that
our love ought to increase and abound toward others! 1st Thessalonians
3:12, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in
love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward
you.” If you want to find a big sinner, you found him right here. I'm
your guy! Please don't misunderstand, I hate sin, I long for a perfect body
rid of this carnal flesh, but I am a sinner just like anybody else! The ONLY
difference between a Christian believer and the vilest unsaved person on
this planet is the precious sin-cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I
have been redeemed by “HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Matthew 6:33). I am
talking about the
IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD!!! What a Savior! The ONLY righteousness
which I possess is the imputed righteousness of God through faith alone in
the Son of God! Jesus is the magnificent Lamb of God, without spot nor
blemish!
The world is literally dying to be loved! The reason why
there are millions of homeless people all across the country is because no
one loves them enough to do something about it! I am not saying that there
are not loving people in our society, but there are not enough of them. One
person can only do what they can, which is limited. Our U.S. federal
government, with all the trillions of dollars in taxpayer money allotted to
social handout programs, seems to do nothing to help the poor! Where does
all that money go? Why are the poor still poor? I read somewhere that 40% of
America's wealth is owned by the top 1% of company CEO's. Truly, the love of
money is the root of all evil (1st Timothy 6:10). We always seem to have
more money for bombs, but not the homeless! There is no love.
There is a witch hunt on the internet, an angry obsessed mob
of ungodly critics, bottom-feeders and trolls, who hate Pastor Jack Hyles
and his entire family. It has become a feeding frenzy of bizarre claims,
blatant lies and lunatics! An ungodly person focuses on any negative aspect
of a person's life to destroy them, while deliberately overlooking the
thousands of positive things and admirable accomplishments of the same
individual. Thankfully, when God judges each Christian, He is going to look
at the whole life, the big picture, and not just the few sins or mistakes
that the person made. Praise God for His fairness. 1st Peter 4:17, “For
the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it
first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of
God?” Far too many people place them self in the position of judge, jury
and executioner, which is NO ONE'S right to do concerning sin, except God
alone (James 4:12).
I refuse to live without love, I must have it! I cannot live
without loving everyone. It matters not if people love me back, and most
don't, but I have a need to express God's love for every creature! The
apostle Paul said that the more he loved others, the less he was loved in
return. 2nd Corinthians 12:15, “And I will very gladly spend and be spent
for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I
be loved.” I became a lonely man long ago, loving others
beyond their capacity to reciprocate that love. I wouldn't have it any other
way! I would 10,000 times rather love people, than not love others with
God's unconditional love. Who am I that a King should bleed and die for?
People can be difficult to love, but at the end of the day, as a redeemed
child of God, my conscience as a Christian will not allow for anything else
than forgiveness and love. I choose to let things go, and forgive, and love,
and let every day be a new day, looking ahead in the Lord. I sometimes have
to block people out, because they are too negative in their e-mails,
attacking me with their hateful words, but I love them anyway in the Lord.
If God can love a woeful sinner like me, then I can love others as God
commands me to do (Matthew 22:39).
This doesn't mean that I don't contend for the faith, which
is a necessity, but I love those whom I refute, sincerely. ...
Ephesians 4:15, “But speaking the truth
in love, may grow up into him
in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”
Galatians 4:16, “Am I
therefore become your enemy, because I
tell you the truth?”
Anytime you tell THE TRUTH, you
will make enemies. Telling the truth sometimes splits a church! For that
very reason, and this is tragic, many churches and pastors in today's
apostate generation refrain from telling the truth, lest they risk a church
split. Ladies and gentlemen, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself warned that NO
MAN can serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13). The Bible tells us that many of
the chief rulers believed on the Lord (meaning they got saved), but they did
not confess Him, because they loved the praise of men more than the praise
of God (John 12:42-43).
There has never been a man greater
than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11), because John prepared the way for the
coming of THE GREATEST of all, the blessed Lamb of God (John 1:29). John
lived out in the wilderness, not dependant upon people for his food,
clothing and necessities. Therefore, John could preach the truth without
worry over how he would survive. God only knows how many preachers have been
starved out by an angry pulpit committee in a church. In his youth, Pastor
Jack Hyles didn't receive a salary for eight week, because the bigshots in
the church were trying to starve him out. ...
In 1945, Brother Hyles
became the pastor at the Grange Hall Baptist Church in Marshall, Texas.
They didn't pay him for the first 8-weeks, and when he did get paid, his
salary was $20 a week. In his sermon titled “Good
Ol' God,” Dr. Hyles says that during those 8-weeks that the church
deacons refused to pay him, he bought a push-lawnmower and cut the grass
of church members for $1 to $2 to keep food on the table. He faithfully
pastored that church and walked with God. Oh, how we need to get back to
old-time Christianity in our churches today.
I also decided as a young preacher
that I would tell the truth, even if it offends people and costs me fake
friends. As Dr. Hyles says, there's no such thing as losing a “friend.” It
is not the preacher's duty to make friends and influence people, but to
speak THE TRUTH!
Kindly, I was reading
today about Dr. Kent Hovind's testimony. What a mess! My own life is a mess!
I have often said that I am just a messed up guy helping messed up people! I say that humbly by God's grace.
I do not judge Dr. Hovind's personal life, but I am against the
Young Earth Creation heresy that he promotes.
The Christian life is a minefield!
Luke 22:31, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold,
Satan hath desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” When you're a Christian
the whole world is waiting for you to fall. Psalms 12:1, “Help, LORD; for
the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of
men.” The great need of the hour is preaching preachers!!! By God's
grace, I am simply doing what I can with what I have, which for me is a
laptop computer! One of my favorite MP3 sermons by Brother Hyles is called,
“What Is In Thy
Hand?”
Here are some more of my favorite helpful sermons by Brother Hyles...
I look at the Hyles family and my heart breaks for them. Oh,
how we all need to love one another! Mrs. Hyles once said, that she
sincerely believes oftentimes hurting people hurt other people. I agree with
that assessment. The internet is filled with ungodly critics, haters, and
seemingly rotten sinful people. Many of them are hurting sinners! What saith
the Scripture? Jude 1:22, “And of some have compassion, making a
difference.” When I look at people, I try to see their need, not their
hate. I love the church hymn titled, “He
Looked Beyond My Faults And Saw My Needs” (I love the mandolin in the
video. I want to learn to play the mandolin this year, Lord willing). Some
people need to be left alone, because they are injurious, but they are still
people that the Lord died for on the cross. I don't think we ought to ever
completely give up on people. I try to help everyone, but I can only help
those who want my help. The hardest thing to do is to get people to want to
help themselves.
A broken mother and wife recently wrote to me, humbly
letting me know that she wants to please God more this year. I commended her
for having a Christlike spirit, wanting to grow in truth and love, obeying
God's commandments more. That is so awesome! Very few believers have ever
completely humbled themselves at Jesus' feet, totally surrendering their
soul to God. I am against the modern sycophantic, phony,
superficial type of worship that goes on in churches today, like at
Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago area, that stirs emotions but
is indifferent toward truth! They major on entertainment while
minoring on Bible doctrine. When I speak of “love,” I do not mean sinful
compromise. The worldliness in today's churches is nauseating to God
(Revelation 3:15-16). Soulwinning doesn't exist in today's dead churches,
but the churches are getting bigger, swelling with rot, like a dying corpse!
I get frustrating, because I play the pedal steel guitar and
love music, but the type of churches that would allow a steel guitar are
messed up doctrinally! You'll see a D-10 pedal steel guitar in this video. I doubt if you'd
ever find a pedal steel guitar in a fundamental Baptist church. It is not
sinful, just not something that fits into a traditional church service. Next
to the electric guitar, the piano is the most used instrument in rock music,
just ask The Beatles and Elton John. Just like anything else, it all depends
on how it is used.
Listen friend, this life will soon be over. Life is nothing
more than two dates, and a vapor in between. James 4:14, “Whereas ye know
not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour,
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” I just wrote
this article to encourage my web visitors to love people more. It seems like
everyone is attacking everyone these days on the internet, and in our
churches. That is because of the ongoing battle between good and evil, and
it will continue. Albeit, I am going to love people during the battle, not
become bitter and hateful like many people are becoming. Let's all increase
in our love for people, as the Bible commands in
1st Thessalonians 3:12, “And the Lord make you
to increase and abound in love one toward another,
and toward all men, even as we do toward you.”
