–  Look not at what is contrary to propriety

–  Listen not to what is contrary to propriety

–  Speak not what is contrary to propriety

–  Make no movement which is contrary to propriety.  

In the Eastern and Buddhist tradition, the tenets of the proverb teach us not to dwell on evil thoughts because exposure to evil leads to evil.  In other words according to the Eastern wisdom, watching violence on TV or playing violent video games leads to violent behavior.  Even listening to the daily news reports about all the violence in the world deadens a person’s sensitivity to violence and increases a person’s appetite for violence and thus leads to more violence.

To a certain degree there is some wisdom here because exposure to evil does destroys a person’s innocence and ignorance toward the presence of evil in the world.  A person who thinks everyone is basically good and caring will have a sudden change of heart about the nature of man after they are mugged or raped, or their child is abducted.  And a long term exposure to the ruthlessness and senselessness of combat can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a loss of the joy of life and a disillusionment about people and the purpose of life.  Also, stinkin’ thinkin’ is like pollution to your soul.  Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

You see, God has not designed our heart to be at home with war or with evil but because we live in a world that is fallen by sin, we are under the sedge of the evil that lives in man’s sinful heart.  Sin by it’s very nature wars and rebels against God and against what is good.  The presence of evil around us and the presence of evil within us is meant to “wake us up” to the reality that something is seriously wrong here on earth and something is seriously wrong with us.  Evil is meant to turn us toward God for forgiveness and for healing and for deliverance from evil, by salvation in God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. 

Sin has ruined everything.  Sin has caused man to be born Spiritually disconnected from God, under the sentence of physical death and under the sentence of eternal Spiritual death if he is not “born again” in Christ.  Sin is causing the earth to wear out like a garment.  Sin is causing the animals to turn on one another and kill one another.  Sin is causing the death of man and sin causes conflict among men.  But before sin entered the world through Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden there was peace on earth and God’s intent was for Adam and Eve and their descends to reign and rule over the earth in peace.  And even though sin has ruined man’s ability to rule over the earth in peace at this time, God has not abandoned His plan because one day men and woman who have been redeemed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ will reign and rule in peace with Christ over a redeemed earth.

But, the time for God to redeem the earth is in the future, now is the time for God to redeem man so that man is fit to reign and rule with Christ.  This is the good news of the gospel, at this time God is making Heavenly Kingdom citizens in Jesus Christ by belief in His Son Jesus Christ.  Now, is the time for citizens of earth to be “born again” in Jesus Christ, so the Heavenly Spirit of God can dwell in a person’s heart and “redeem” the person, giving them peace and assurance for all eternity.  Now is the time for men to repent of their sin nature and turn to Christ for His love and His power to live a perfect life.  For as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

This makes perfect sense to the “redeemed” person who has called on Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior but here is the problem, the unredeemed or unsaved man does not think that he needs to be redeemed or that he needs to wait to build a kingdom of peace.  And this is the crux of the problem with man … he is blind to the sinful condition of his heart and his critical need to be “redeemed” by Jesus.  His heart has a desire for a kingdom of peace but because of sin, man is incapable of building a kingdom of peace and more importantly his soul is on a path to eternal destruction without the peace of Christ in his heart.   Man thinks he can build up walls to keep bad things out of his life but the number one bad thing that is killing him is living inside his heart … sin.  No wall or kingdom can keep out the deadly effect of sin, only a born again life in Jesus Christ has the ability to conquer sin and death.  And only Jesus Christ has the ability and authority to rule over a Kingdom of peace.  However, the desire for a kingdom of peace without Christ is why groups like the United Nations, the Masons, the Catholic and the Muslims conspire among themselves to build their own kingdom of peace one earth now, a New World Order, a new tower of Babel, a One World Religion or a united Islamic Caliphate Kingdom.

Furthermore, the unredeemed man is so self absorbed in his good intentions to establish a kingdom of peace that he is going to be deceived to believe that the Antichrist (Satan in the flesh) is the Savior of the world who can bring peace to earth.  You see, the Antichrist is going to show up on the scene after the redeemed people are “rapture” to Heaven by Jesus and the Antichrist is going to make a treaty with the world for seven year of peace.  But the Antichrist kingdom will not be one of peace but one of tyranny and bloodshed, for anyone who does not take the mark of the beast will be killed.  Plus during the last three and a half years, God is going to reign down judgment on the Antichrist kingdom the likes of which have never been experienced before on earth!

Finally, when the seven years of Tribulation are completed, God is going to remove unbelievers from the earth to wait their sentencing in the Lake of Fire and God is going to set up His Millennium Kingdom on earth.  For 1,000 years once again animals will live at peace with one another and man will live at peace with one another (or rather man will be forced to live at peace by the rod of iron that Christ will rule the earth with during this time).  But after 1,000 years of peace, God removes His rod of iron that is keeping sin in check and He releases Satan from the abyss.  Amazingly at this time there will be people who have only know hundreds of years of peaceful living that “will choose” to follow Satan and declare war against God.  So you see, even people raised in a perfect environment, free from war and evil, will spring into action to commit the evil that is in their heart as soon as God lifts His hand of judgment that keeps sin in check.

This is why the Eastern wisdom that declares that avoiding evil will keep man from evil is really “monkey business”.  Man can not be made peaceful by avoiding evil because man himself is contaminated by evil at birth.  Man is born with a sin nature, a heart that is disconnected and rebellious toward God.  Man can not perfect himself from evil or keep himself from evil since at the root of his being he is infected with an evil sin nature.  Only a born again heart from Jesus Christ can provide the cure man needs to overcome the evil of his sinful state.

I understand the lure of believing that man by his good works can manufacture peace in the world.  From 1972 to 1976 I became a big fan of John Denver.  His song of peace and love and the good simple life were very appealing and comforting to me during my college years.  I grew up in a busy household of four children (two boys and two girls) and my father was forth generation from England but my mother was second generation Sicilian. I shared a room with my brother and we wrestled every night before dinner.  It was very loud and loving home but it was not very private place.  However, in my second year of college I shared an apartment with another guy who spent most of his time at the fraternity house.  Alone in a basement apartment during the cold, wet days of winter in Blacksburg, Va and following a break-up with my girl friend, I picked up a guitar and made a new friend.  I learned to play John Denver songs and James Taylor songs and of course some Eagles.  Just recently, I did some research to see if John Denver every accepted Christ as His Lord and Savior and I saddened me to find out that he probably didn’t.  His father “Dutch” was saved in the last days of his life and he asked the pastor who brought him to the Lord to bring the good news to his son, John, but the pastor reported that John would not accept “peace” on Christ terms.  

Matthew 10: 32“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.33“But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.     34“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35“For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; 36and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.   37“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Peace with the world is enmity with God.  We are to live as though the world is our enemy, for it is one of our enemies along with the flesh and the Devil.  The way to peace is through the narrow door through salvation in Jesus Christ, not along the broad road of making peace with the world, which leads to destruction.  Look around folks, the world is growing meaner and more brutal because of selfishness and sin.  The only way to restrain the sinful heart is to have an earthly leader “control it” by tyranny or to have a Heavenly God restrain the evil in a person’s heart by love.  The answer to correcting the meanness in the world is not to pretend that man can overcome the evil in his heart by joining hands together in agreement but to confront the evil in man’s heart and for each person to repent of their sin to God.  The only way to overcome the root of evil in man’s heart is for man to choose to a new born again heart in Jesus Christ but for those who don’t choose to get a heart like Christ, we must confront them with the truth of their evil heart and remind them of the consequences for choosing evil.

Take the issue of “guns” in America.  Yes, guns are used by criminals to take what is not their’s and guns are used by people with an evil agenda to murder others but it is not the guns that commit the evil.  It is not guns that need to be stopped but people who use guns to do evil that need to be stopped.  And disarming law abiding citizens is not the way to stop evil but confronting evil doers with a bullet from a law abiding citizen sends a message to the evil doers that there is a consequence for acts of evil, plus it stops evil in it’s tracts so it doesn’t commit more acts of evil.

Ravi Zacharias summed up what happens in his book “Deliver Us From Evil”, when people think they can compromise and “coexist” with the evil of immoral behavior and the evil of a Godless society.  The end result is that you are left with a society of people who have no shame for the sin they commit, no reason for why doing one thing is better than another thing and no meaning for their life.  Here is how compromising with evil slowly infects and corrupts a society.

Secularization – no public agreement of a God given moral standard – no shame
Pluralization – no public acknowledgement of a God given absolute truth – no reason
Privatization – no public application of a God held personal belief – no meaning

If you sincerely think that God is only relevant inside a church setting (Secularization) then you think you can do what every you want in public and you have no no shame before God for your actions.  This leads to irreverence of God, no judgment of bad behavior, violence and debauchery.  If you sincerely think everyone’s opinion is equally valuable (Pluralization) then you undermine God’s absolute standard and there is no reason for doing one thing more than another thing.  This leads to anarchy, war, tyranny and chaos.  If you sincerely think that your thoughts are all that matter in this world (Privatization) then you can offer no explanation on how the world came into existence and there is no meaning for your life or anyone else’s life.

The three evil monkeys infecting the world are:

See no truth	Hear no truth	Speak no truth
Secularization	Pluralization	Privatization
– no shame	– no reason	– no meaning

Secularization – truth must stay inside a church building.  This evil teaches that God’s absolute truth is not needed to run society and man can just make up his own pragmatic rules to live by. This evil removes the accountability of a nation toward God.  Man is told to keep his church ideas inside his church.  It attempts to put God in a box and keep Him away from influence of society, thus it deceives men into thinking that his society/government is his god.  The end result is that man thinks that he is not unaccountable to God, so he makes laws that legalize sin and he publicly parades around his sinful behavior without the shame, thus bringing down the judgment of God upon a nation.

Pluralization – everything is equally true. This evil teaches that Truth is relative to a what a group of people say it is and what they practice. This evil removes the accountability of man to love and honor his fellow man according to a God given standard.  Pluralization says that all ideas thought up and burped up by man are equally virtuous, worthy of respect and should be tolerated.  This leaves man disillusioned, confused and in conflict about how to live a virtuous life since there is no agreement among men.  The end result is there is no reason for doing one thing over another thing and a “free” society is therefore unable to rule itself and it falls into a dictatorship.

Privatization – it’s true for me but not for you. This evil teaches that Truth is determined by a person’s own imagination, declaration and lifestyle. This evil removes man identity and accountability toward God.  It leaves man dumbfounded and bewildered trying to figure out a world and life that he didn’t create and can’t control.  Man is not designed to be his own god or control things.  In fact this is the essence of sin, the self absorbed delusion where you think you are in control and there is no Creator or you are not accountable to your Creator or you can account to God on your terms.  The bottom line is that without God there is not meaning for life and no reason to live.

So what is the truth? The Truth is not a concept of one’s own imagination and it is not something that is unknowable but truth is a person.  Jesus said, “I am the truth, the life and the way, no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus is the truth.  His life is an example of a life lived in perfect obedience to the truth. Jesus kept the law of truth and did not sin, therefore He is able to mediator between us (sinners) and the judge of truth, God.  From the beginning in the garden of Eden, Satan tempted Eve “Indeed, has God said” Genesis 3:1.  And Satan continues to tempt man today to pursue his own truth and be his own god.  But when man pursues his own truth, he is really worshiping Satan and pursuing his own death.  Only those who bow their knee in repentance of their sin and accept Christ as the Lord of their life will be saved from the penalty of sin, an eternal death in the lake of Fire.

The truth is what is has been “revealed” from God by His word and through the life of His Son, not what is conjured up by man.  The truth is unchangeable, always right and absolute. The truth proclaims the sanctity of human life and the unalienable rights that man has because man is made in the image of God.

1.  Man has the right to life because God has given him life and a purpose for life. Therefore, man is not to murder or take his own life.  Man is not to take the life of the unborn because God is in charge of life, from conception to the grave.  Only God who is the giver of life has the right to take life.  And God gives “a nation” the right to take the life of an accused and guilty man because the leaders of nations are under the authority of God and God holds them accountable for upholding His moral truth.

2.  Man has the right to liberty because God has made man with a “free will” to choose to do God’s will.  Actually, no matter how a person is born into a position in life, they are free serve God whether they know it or not.  Man is free to choose not to steal, cheat, lie or otherwise deal unfairly with his fellow man, for in committing these unrighteous acts man defaces the image of God that he is made in and he defaces the image of God in his fellow man. Turn the other cheek in personal offenses, and forgive others their trespasses as God forgives us our trespasses. God has the last say and no crime goes unnoticed and unpunished by God. Vengeance is mine sayth the Lord.

3.  Man has the right to proclaim the truth of God’s word and salvation in God’s Son Jesus Christ.  God owns everything and everyone and God has a purpose for everything and everyone.  God wants everyone to hear the good news of salvation in His Son Jesus Christ and to repent of sin and be born again.  This is reason that Jesus came to earth and sharing the good news of Jesus is the purpose that God has for man during this Church dispensation.  Trying to stop a man from doing God’s will is like trying to stop God Himself, which ain’t gonna happen.

The purpose of man is to know God and enjoy Him forever.  There is no law of man or means of man that can interfere with the pursuit of a man that is pursuing God!  And that my friend ain’t no Monkey Business.

+8^)  Rogersings

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