Truth or Consequences

by Lonnie Mackley

REV 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.

We have entered a time in which God is requiring us all to walk in complete truth and obedience or we will soon face the consequences for continuing to walk in the lie and disobedience. We have spent many years in the wilderness where God has been showing us who He is and who we are, so that we can know the truth and turn away from all the lies we have been embracing. We have reached a spiritual threshold where we must walk fully in the truth or face certain rebukes and punishments from the Lord.

AC 5:10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Nobody wants to have to be made the example to others for disobedience, but most of us know the story about Ananias and Sapphira and how they lied to God about how much they sold a property for and then were punished for it by death. Chances are this problem with dishonesty had been there for a while but was just never repented of. God has painstakingly shown us our weak areas so that we can repent now and thus escape His soon coming judgments later, but we must take God's dealings seriously.

HEB 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

JN 5:14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.

In the coming days and months we are going to see God making prime examples out of people who should have repented but didn't, but we are also going to see great examples of many who listened to God's promptings and repented before it was too late. Waiting to repent can be a huge gamble because judgment will always come sooner or later, especially with it being the end of the age right now. This is the most dangerous time in history to be practicing sin, and the best time in history to repent.

Here are some of the judgments you may soon see happening to Christians who have refused to repent. They are listed in order of severity, but are not limited to this order:

1. God being silent, or loss of His sense of presence and blessing.

2. Punitive judgments like lack, sickness, or demonic harassment.

3. Exposure of your sin to everyone around you.

4. Being given over to your sin and the consequences of it.

5. Physical and and/or spiritual death.

Now of course God's heart is that we repent in earnest, but usually we rationalize why we need our sin and we procrastinate and presume God's grace because if we didn't get punished that bad last time, maybe we won't again this time. Since this is a time of judgment for everyone this is a day for us all to take repentance very seriously and to be the example of obedience rather than disobedience to others. God will help you to repent so trust Him today and step into full obedience to everything He wants.

DT 30:19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.