NOTABLE
We are their sons and daughters. Buckle up.
This is for all who call themselves Christian.
The Bible makes it clear that God drops plumb lines into human history. He does so for the purpose of drawing a line in the sand, so to speak. He uses them to spiritually delineate His people from all others.
One such plumb line was the Apostle Paul. He had become a serial killer, traveling from town to town, putting to death by stoning, those who were followers of Jesus. When he came on the scene as a Christian apostle some years later, he had already amassed a history akin to the Taliban. So it was, that followers of Jesus found themselves confronted with a man having a background that was totally at odds with the Faith.
Scripture states that the sons of God, are led by the Spirit of God. Not all who call themselves Christian, are His sons. And herein lies the plumb line, as it took spiritual discernment to recognize and receive Paul as a brother. Those who were Christian in name only, having no indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit through the new birth, could never receive him as such. All they could see was the killer.
In the almost 2,000 years since, God hasn’t changed. Neither has the nature of man, as impostors in the Church of Jesus, still see only the killers, rapists, thieves, etc. Today, they are aided by technology that permits a person’s every fart and burp to be recorded for all posterity. So, no matter how sincere a person’s repentance, the religious will forever see them as stained in filth. Woe to you, who listen to such, no matter the source.