Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

Authored By  :
Published On :
Last Updated :



Continuing our discussion, as we learned in part one, another big reason why so many people travel down the broad way and through the wide gate to their own destruction, is because they are simply unwilling to pay the price of following the Lord. They are unwilling to give up their wealth. They are unwilling to sacrifice what they have gained through their own hard work. For some people, it is simply too big of a price to pay. They are living on top of the world -- Satan's world, mind you -- and they have absolutely no intentions of giving it up. They will even go to war, and kill thousands or millions of innocents, just to keep what they have acquired. After all, the poor and the oppressed are just their cannon fodder, and pawns on the chessboard, viewed to be used as they please.

However, as I point out in such articles as "Going Down the Highway of Life", someday the physical affluence and worldly comfort which is so greatly enjoyed by the rich elitists will be a damning testimony against them, just as it was for the sad, young rich man who was unable to forsake all in order to follow Jesus all the way. Let me share those two verses with you again, along with some very powerful verses that were written by the Apostle James:

"But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."


"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain."


So what will you do? The choice is really up to you. You can continue to serve Satan and his materialistic, flesh-driven world; or else you can serve your Heavenly Father and gain Eternal Rewards. As Bob Dylan once sang about twenty-five years ago " Now it may be the Devil, and it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody." Jesus and the Apostle Paul both summed up our situation quite well when they said the following:

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."


"For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out."


So you see, piling up wealth in this current world is simply an act of futility. It is dust in the wind. While in this series I have concentrated on sharing with you verses which are found in the New Testament, you should know that the Old Testament carries the very same message regarding the vanity of accumulating worldly wealth. Following are just a few select verses for your consideration:

"And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."


"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words."


"There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand."


Despite the fact that he held power and was surrounded by the wealth of mighty Egypt, we know that when the right time arrived, dear Moses made the right choice. He was willing to leave it all behind in order to follow God's highest calling for his life. The Patriarch Abraham too was willing to leave behind familiar surroundings, in order to obey God. We would all be wise to follow their shining examples of obedience and faith. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, it is written of these two Patriarchs:

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable."


"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."


I truly hope that if God calls you to such a purpose, you too will choose to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that you will not fail Him. I pray that this series will cause you to seriously ponder the path you have chosen to follow in this life; because as we have clearly seen, not all paths lead to the same destination, regardless of what the modern, false, ecumenical teachers of the world erroneously teach. Not all religions are the same. Remember; there is only one Mediator between God and man: Jesus Christ; Yeshua the Anointed One.

On a final note, allow me to mention that while the language which is used in this series is rather strong, and while the Bible verses which are shared here are cutting, very direct and to-the-point, the primary intention of this series is not to criticize anyone, other than the wicked deceivers who have been exposed herein. In other words, I fully recognize the need of many of my Christian brethren to hold secular jobs. You have families to support, bills to be paid, many needs to be met. Even though I am now getting old, over the course of my life, I likewise held a variety of secular jobs in order to support myself, and those for whom I was responsible. In your case, the main thing to consider here is that you work decently and honestly, and that you are a positive testimony of your faith in the process.

In short, this series is directed more to those people who have gone beyond actual need, and who have made the pursuit of power, fame and fortune -- oft times at the expense of others -- their sole purpose in life. They have made these things their gods.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Abundant Life Doctrine: Scripturally Exposed!
Backsliding, Divine Chastisement and the Divine Agreement
Going Down the Highway of Life
The Marriage of the Lamb
Money-Making Bible Hucksters and Mammon
One From Beyond: Hebrew of Hebrews
The Fruits of Disobedience
The Heavenly Vision: Have You Got It?
What About the Poor?

Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

---

---

Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.