By: Gen. James Green
HOW DOES one avoid stirring up God’s wrath? First, Jesus is the object of our Christian faith that God jealously demands. If one really reads the New Testament, I mean REALLY READS it, one will see that God/Jesus demand unwavering allegiance to them! They demand faithfulness. But, the “thing” called “Church” teaches a kind of “shack-up” relationship, a kind of “open marriage,” a casual relationship reserved for Church only—but the rest of the time is “me time.” Now I’m referring to these liberal luke/puke warm Churches. Even the “cutting edge” Churches play the harlot now and then.
So, faithfully obeying the Lord/the Word is the way one gives evidence of love for Christ and the Word. John 14:15 sums it all up in 7 words: “If ye love Me, keep My Commandments.” And Jesus was not just referring to the 10 Commandments, but they were part of it (except keeping the Sabbath, which was going to be done away with for the New Testament Church: see my “Sabbath” magazine for proof). JESUS PUT FORTH MANY COMMANDMENTS for His Jewish converts to obey, as well as for all His Gentile converts that were to come.
Inter-Trinitarian Jealousy
JESUS, in Matt. 4:10 made this statement: “…it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’” Where else is that written? (Deut. 6:13.) John 17 is a chapter where it shows that Jesus’ life and ministry was to glorify His Father. We can’t help but see the inter-Trinitarian jealousy where both the Father and Son are concerned for each other’s glory (see also Heb. 1:4-14). One minister brings out the texts (Acts 12:21-23) where Herod was struck dead for accepting glory that belonged ONLY to God. Hey!, this is New Testament.
The warning (or statement) that Paul penned needs attention: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7). Take heed, don’t take God’s glory.
There are Scriptures in the New Testament that need to be studied out where God is seen to be Jealous for the faithfulness of His people (see Mt. 10:37; Mk. 8:38; Acts 7:42, 43; 1 Cor. 10:22; Heb. 3:10; Jam. 4:5; Rev. 2:14, 20-22; 21:2, 3; 22:14-17).
Jesus laid down His requirement for discipleship when He said “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37). Brother James says, “…the friendship of the world is enmity with God…Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (4:4). So, my dear worldly-ites, love for the world, and for God are antithetical.
If you think Jesus’ and James’ messages were just too, well, stringent, brother Matthew has set the record (read Mt. 10:34-36). JESUS DID NOT COME TO BRING PEACE, BUT THE SWORD!…and that sharp two-edged sword cuts right through the whole human family unit.
Jesus, in Mark 8:38 says, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words…the Son of man will also be ashamed of him…”
Watch Out!
PAUL PUTS FORTH a warning in 1 Cor. 10:22 to not, “provoke the Lord to jealousy.” The reason? “I would not that ye should have fellowship with the devils…the cup of devils” (vv. 20, 21).
Paul, in chapter 10, brings up the issues of “IDOLATRY” (1 Cor. 10:7) and “FORNICATION” (v. 8). He takes us back into Israel’s dark past where they played the whore and were punished (ref=Ex. 32:1-6; Num. 25). It was the LORD’S jealousy that slew 24,000 (v. 7, see also Mal. 1:6, 7).
We might ask ourselves, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” Those words “provoke to jealousy” are the present indicative active verb παραζηλομεν–the same verb used in Deut. 32:21 in the LXX (Greek Old Testament).
Actually, America has been terribly guilty of:
~ idolizing the U.S. Constitution and all that goes with the (Beast) State
~ worshiping movie/music stars
~ revering those great mega-Churches and those who have built them
~ praising U.S. military might, police might, and the FBI, CIA, etc. etc.
The list could go on and on. The US has even stooped so low as to:
~ worship the perverts of the LGBTQ+ camp…
~ it even worships its worship!
And we think, we Americans that is, that God will never ever punish us for our idolatries/adulteries!
Backdrop
THE BACKDROP for 1 Cor. 10 is Deut. 32:17-21. Scholars don’t need to debate this issue, for there is much overlap between Deut. 32:17-21 and 1 Cor. 10:14-21 that, as Prof. Thoennes suggests, “Paul’s words are a ‘Christian midrash’ of Moses’ Song.” No doubt Paul’s familiarity with Deut. 32 is obvious—where he quotes Deut. 32:21 in Rom. 10:19, and Deut. 32:35 in Rom. 12:19.
Moses predicted the children of Israel’s future of unfaithfulness and tells them that it WILL PROVOKE God’s JEALOUSY and WRATH. Deut. 32:21 says, “They have made Me jealous with what is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their idols.”
One author/scholar says that, “JEALOUSY IS THE FEELING WHICH ARISES FROM WOUNDED LOVE, AND IS THE FIERCEST OF ALL HUMAN PASSIONS. It is therefore employed as an illustration of the hatred of God towards idolatry…Scripture sets forth the heinousness of the SIN of idolatry” (Charles Hodge, an Expo. of the First Epistle of the Corinthians; 1857, 1976, p. 195).
Deut. 32: “Rock”
VERSES 4, 15, and 18 all use the word “Rock.” Paul applies this word on 1 Cor. 10:4, “…spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.” It must be pointed out that the “rock” (sur) of Dt. 32 is Yahweh, or LORD, Paul nevertheless applies this same nomenclature to Jesus (contextual nomenclature=language of debate).
The Old Testament rock was provided for the Old Testament covenant people—racial Israel; the New Testament rock is one and the same for New Testament believers. The “Lord” of 1 Cor. 10:22 is the “Lord of the table, cup, and bread.” CHRIST, THEREFORE, IS OUR JEHOVAH, OUR SPIRITUAL HUSBAND, TO WHOM GLORY AND HONOR IS DUE. But does the New Testament Church (it should be Ekklesia) do this? If they do, I’ve missed seeing it.
Paul warns those at Corinth of the peril they risk in partaking of devils and of Christ. Yet this is repeated over and over at communion all around the world.
Pentecostal theologian Gordon Fee challenges us today when he wrote, “God’s jealousy cannot be challenged with impunity. Those who would put God to the test by insisting on challenging Him by their actions, daring Him to act. Secure in their own foolhardiness, they think of themselves as so ‘strong’ that they can challenge Christ Himself” (First Corinthians, 1987, p. 474). I really like Fee’s book—all 880 pages; he starts on p. 462 (The Prohibition and its Basis—1 Cor. 10:14-22), and goes all the way to page 475 detailing for us what Paul was saying.
He basically says, “One cannot serve God and mammon—or demons, whatever form they may take in our modern world.” He further stated, “Sitting at the Table and experiencing its benefits of grace and freedom does not give us license for religious or moral licentiousness. Rather, IT BINDS US TO ONE ANOTHER IN COMMON FELLOWSHIP AROUND CHRIST and the new Covenant in such a way that our behavior in the new age is radicalized toward ‘the law of Christ’” (9:21, p. 475).
Churches today are so CARNAL that they do not know the difference between Christ and Satan. After all, Satan outsmarts all of them into doing exactly what Paul warned against. A good case-in-point is having communion with unrepentant homosexuals (or any other sex-perverts). This “Political Correctness” has so infiltrated the Church of the West, that to require any LGBTQ to REPENT is considered a form of “HATE CRIME,” and will not be tolerated. So many Churches have believers and sex-perverts sharing the table. This, of course, will incite the jealous wrath of God (eventually).
What the Corinthians had failed to discern all along is that to say an idol is not a god does not mean that it does not represent supernatural powers. In (1 Cor. 10) v. 20, “…the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God, and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils,” Paul is pointing out that the preceding argument does not imply reality to idols (v. 19), but rather, they are to understand idolatry, in terms of Old Testament revelation, that the SACRIFICES OF PAGANS ARE OFFERED TO DEMONS, not to a Being, i.e., God. He did not want the new Ekklesia to be koinonous (partners) in demon activity.
So, when a believer has fellowship with an unrepentant sex-pervert (claiming to be “Christian”), the believer is actually sharing with a demon, for sex-perverts are idol worshipers—they “worship” their diversity!
What Paul said was both a WARNING and a PROHIBITION…he was showing the Corinthians the absolute incompatibility of the two: when a believer takes communion, or is merely eating with a (sinning) “Christian,” he or she is engaged in idolatry. Think of all the LGBTQ infection in many Churches today. The super-ABOMINATION of same-sex marriage is the icing on the paganized cake!
How long will you PC Churches persist in your abominations? Have you not read 1 Cor. 6:9 where Paul mentions [the fate of] fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers? Here he warns the saints against these SEX SINS. He defines, “the wicked” in terms of six sins from 1 Cor. 5:10, 11 to 6:9. In 5:1 Paul mentions “fornication,” which he describes as “incest.” Altogether we see a sex-vice list which INCLUDES male prostitutes/homosexuals. One needs to do a bit of study on “male prostitutes” and “homo offenders” (NIV). In my “Gay Way” series I go into great detail on those English and Greek words. What one will encounter is the (Greek) words malakoi and arsenokoitai. Paul was calling these an ABOMINATION in so many words. One cannot miss the connection between Romans one and 1 Cor. 6. If you think God accepts any of the VILE package of the LGBTQ+ camp, you are DECEIVED!!
Sodomites
THERE IS AN obscure Scripture found in Job 36:14 that relates to our discussion of sex-sins. We know about the dozen or so texts referring to the SIN of sodomy, i.e., homosexuality. The KJV reads, “They die in youth and their life is among the unclean.” The RSV uses “shame,” but the Amplified Bible has the true meaning:
“They die in youth, and their life perishes among the unclean—those who are sodomites.” In other words, the rebellious die of premature exhaustion, literally, among the cult (sodomite) prostitutes (see Deut. 23:18; 1 Kgs. 14:24 etc.).
The Old Testament Greek for “unclean” is qadesh (kaw-dashe’), a quasi is a sacred person, i.e., a male devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry, a sodomite.
Deuteronomy 23:17 speaks of a female whore and a male sodomite [male/female prostitutes]. Verse 18 states, “Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog (sodomite: dogs mount from the rear), unto the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are ABOMINATION unto the LORD thy God.”
In my trilogy “God’s Holy War” (divine genocide against the Canaanites), I show WHY God ordered the destruction of the 7 Canaanite nations. Here in 1 Kgs. 14:24 we read, “And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.” For those who think God accepts the sin of sodomy, you had better check out all references to them. I challenge anyone—ANYONE to produce ONE, just ONE Scripture where the Bible honors, condones, praises or celebrates those dogs (lesbians included). Show me where any Old Testament/New Testament author has one good thing to say about them. Since you can’t, why do you side with their abominations?
Don’t be fooled by the words, consecrated/dedicated/sacred person. In idolatry, the devotees were consecrated to Baal and Ashtaroth, Venus, Priapus etc. God abhorred such persons and actions centuries ago, AND HE STILL ABHORS THEM RIGHT TODAY.
Justice of God
JUSTICE AND JEALOUSY go hand-in-hand. Speaking of Job, here is another one for you: “Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out; He is excellent in power, and to justice and plenteous righteousness: He does no violence [He will disregard no right]” (Job 37:23, Amp. Bible). The RSV has, “righteousness He will not violate.” The KJV reads, “He will not afflict.”
When men or women try to put the LORD—whose name is Jealous—into one mode they like (like “LOVE ONLY”), we do injustice to Him. When Job was written, there was no Old Testament or New Testament…but now we have both, therefore WE CAN READ ABOUT HIS CHARACTER, NOT MERELY GUESS OR MAKE THINGS UP. We can somewhat know of His wisdom, counsels, and the mysteries of His conduct. By reading His Word—the Bible—we conclude by examination, that His character consists of BOTH love and hate, mercy and punishment. Mere men cannot comprehend His motives, nor the ends He has in view; but His true ones may, for He gives insight, revelation etc. Mere men cannot comprehend His jealous acts, but we do.
Isaiah 55:9 has it right: “…My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
It is sheer madness to violate God’s laws (such as the Queer camp does–they violate His laws for the body and spirit). In doing so, we court His wrath. The New Testament remains totally intolerant of idolatry, sex/occult sins/murder etc.
The Great SIN!
THE GREAT SIN of today’s Church is to tolerate and accommodate other religions/ideologies. To welcome the Queer perversion is to court disaster. “Diversity” is “perversity.”
We are aware of the Old Testament types of idolatry (demonstrated by Assyrian/Babylonian cultic worship and other forms of practices), but too many New Testament believers cannot connect the dots. Idolatry in the New Testament is axiomatically connected with “the world.” Yet, the Church is so much wedded to the world that one cannot tell them apart…and the BASTARD children look exactly like the children of the devil. There is hardly any sin in which they have not indulged in—all in the name of “Sweet, sweet Jesus.” We live in a PLEASURE PLANET. People are obsessed with it. BUT DOES GOD/JESUS HAVE PLEASURE IN US? Worldly pleasures (be they in spirit or in body) are antithetical to taking pleasure in being God’s children. Yet, we have BIG NAME ministers telling us to “have your best life now,” and, “God loves you unconditionally, no matter what you do or do not do.” Just where do we find this in our Bibles? We don’t!
Because the sin of spiritual adultery is tantamount to apostasy, James 4:4 calls names (oh, no, that’s not PC!)! Yep! He starts verse 4 with, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses.” Jesus called names as well. He called those of His generation “adulterous” and “sinful” (Mk. 8:38). He did the same in Matt. 12:39, not to mention the chewing out of the “religious” in Mat. 23.
So, what is the conclusion? The JEALOUS character of God demands that His people choose to love Him AND deny the world that opposes Him. I realize I am writing about things that have been thrown into the trash bin of bygone days, but are still relevant for us today. In fact, they are still binding.
While we can appreciate the marriage metaphor—the marriage imagery at the heart of the New Testament Covenant, still, we must LIVE THE LIFE: God is our husband, we are His bride…SOLDIER BRIDE I must add.
We cannot play the whore, although we live in a pluralistic relativistic age, which rejects all of what I have written, we must remain true. As the Church has become an ecumenical WHOREHOUSE, we must EXIT and move on with our God and Savior. We must distance ourselves from those who are stuck in the quagmire of “unity in diversity” TO HELL WITH THESE PREVARICATIONS!! (i.e., evading truths, equivocate)
As for me, I will not be intimidated by being called harsh, unloving, judgmental, cruel, homophobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, a fascist, a cultist, or whatever. I know who I serve and I know it is NOT THE WORLD.
Before Closing
THE BIBLE clearly shows that God has both love and wrath. “In itself, wrath, unlike love, is not one of the intrinsic perfections of God,” some theologians hold to. For sure, wrath is a function of God’s jealousy and holiness against sin. It is said, and I agree, where there is no sin, there is no wrath.
But there will always be love, for God is love. If God does not confront sin, God is not the JEALOUS God. It is also said that God’s transcendent/immanent tension will remain at the heart of our understanding of Him. His jealousy affirms His transcendence in His demand that He not be compared to anything in all creation.
Although our God is independent, self-existing, self-sufficient, eternal and transcendent, He also is relational, engaged, personal, and immanent; He is Master of the universe, author of history.
So, we can rightly say, He is not merely with us and in us [if we are born-again of incorruptible seed], but He is also over us, and against us [if we are not walking uprightly]. This does not sit well with the crybaby liberals, but He is both JUDGE and SAVIOR. Jealousy is a true blue genuine emotional response of God, just as love is; jealousy flows from His love.
GOD NOT ONLY LOVES, BUT ALSO PUNISHES. WHY NOT LOVE GOD AND REAP THE ETERNAL BENEFITS?!