A FALSE PEACE

                                                         A FALSE PEACE

     The Mayan Indians, like a few other cultures, practiced human sacrifice to appease, or make peace with, the heavenly forces. It must have worked, for them, else they would have discontinued the practice. But did it really work, and how is it similar to what many do yet today, even in America?
     All humans are born with a conscience, evident in one example by the fact that the Mesapotamians devised a set of moral laws, not being inspired directly by the Almighty, as Moses and the Hebrews were. Not only that, but there is Biblical evidence to support the thought that the Holy Spirit has always dealt with and convicted, as need be, the hearts of people from all cultures.
So what I believe happened was, that the Mayans, got to the mindset that human sacrifice appeased a Supreme Being, because they were under conviction, but not having heard the Gospel, did what took away the conviction, in their case sacrificing humans, usually captives taken in war.
   How did it take away their conviction? Because God has said that He will not always strive with each person's heart, wanting us to repent when He convicts it. We can't be converted just whenever we want to [Genesis 6:3, 8:21, Psalm 32:6, II Corinthians 6:2, Proverbs 1:23-33].
   If we shun the Lord enough, then He will give us up to the wickedness of our hearts and quit convicting it. When this happens with people who refuse to repent, they think they have obtained peace because the turmoil and anguish of heart that occurs under strong conviction is no longer there. However, rather than obtaining peace, sensuality and other evil begin to dwell in the heart [Romans 1:18-32, II Thessalonians 2:9-12, Isaiah 66:4, 29:1-17,20,21, 30:1-3, 6:11,12, Jeremiah 51:39, Hosea 2:14, 4:14, 7:11-16, Amos 4:4,5, 2:4].
     Of course, most people today do not physically sacrifice humans, but they do so in other ways, including spiritually. And, the main point is, they refuse to repent, bringing upon themselves a false sense of peace and security, because God gives up on them.

     I have heard people say that the reason they don't go to church is because they were made to while growing up, so it turns them off. Okay, so we are taught and made to brush our teeth and take a bath. Does that turn us away from being physically clean?
     Sometimes you have to make yourself do what you know is good for you, including reading the Bible and going to church. We believers don't always feel like reading, studying or going to gather with other believers. But once we get there, were glad we do, at least later if not sooner. Everyone gets in a rut at times.
     Doing the things God expects is not really in our nature, and it is often a battle between the human side and the spiritual side, the soul [Romans 7:14-25].

     Have you ever, as a Christian believer, in tune with God as you can be, and when in some person's presence, feel your spirit rise up within you, as though you were going outside to look for an intruder or in some other possibly dangerous situation? Why is this? One answer is in Hebrews 12:3 and III John 9-11.
     Sometimes, it is also because we sense something lascivious or some other kind of evil in the person's spirit [different than the soul], and we unnecessarily fear [I John 4:18, Deuteronomy 31:6]. We need to trust in the Lord more [II Timothy 1:7].

     In one of my articles I made mention that while Christ was in the grave for three days, His soul went and preached to the spirits in prison [I Peter 3:18,19, Matthew 12:40, Hebrews 2:15], meaning everyone from Adam to the end of Moses' time, to give them a chance to hear the Gospel, as no one before then went to heaven or hell, possibly excepting those like Cain and Esau, who ended up hating God. Some of the Hebrews also thumbed their noses at God, and likely doomed themselves forever.
     What I failed to reference was that some in the Old Testament times probably blew all chances of redemption, because they knew who God is and did reject Him fully, again, such as Cain and Esau [Hebrews 12:17].
But no one heard the full message of God until Christ came [Hebrews 11:13], not even the very prophets who prophesied of Christ [I Peter 1:10-12, Matthew 13:17]. They had to wait until Christ died and preached to them during the three days.
     Therefore, I believe that scripture teaches that God gave every person a chance to hear the full Gospel message at some point in time, before letting them be condemned to hell. Most heard it after death, while in "prison", a halfway point between heaven and hell.
     This in no way is to imply that people get a second chance, after hearing the Gospel. Once we hear it, the message of repentance, and accepting Christ, if we reject it, that's it, no more chances. But those in "prison" never heard the full Gospel, just the fore-tellings of it.
     For those in prison, the chance to repent of sins and accept Christ as Savior, that's all that would be needed to actually redeem the soul. They wouldn't have to worry about living a life in Christ, because they're already dead physically.
     Those of us from Christ onward, all we do to redeem our soul is to repent of our sins and accept Christ. Instant believer, child of God. After that, however, we are obliged to live a Godly life in Christ.
     Some don't think Christ preached to very many at all, and have different views on this subject. God is a just God, and isn't ever going to let anyone go to hell without a chance to repent. I think all Christians would agree with that, if they think about it. Nonetheless, I think this is a subject worth doing an in-depth study on, which I will do as the Lord grants me time to.

                       ============================================================

                                                                                           GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

     There are those who say that the gifts of the Holy Spirit went out with the last original apostle. From both scripture and experience I can attest that the gifts of the Spirit are still here and available. I have articles on this subject, but here are some of the scripture which tell us about the status of the gifts: Ephesians 4:8,11,12, I Corinthians 1:7,8, 14:1,12, chapter 12, Romans 1:11, 11:29, 12:6, Hebrews 2:3,4, Mark 16:20.