He didn’t realize that his kind of battles were all spiritual and only Jesus can fight those for us. Robert always liked viewing himself as the tough one, fight his own battles. God knew all of Robert’s battles with the enemy and I believe Robert viewed surrendering to repentance as a form of weakness. One wrote, “Man looks at the outward appearance while God looks at the heart. Most of my friends accused me of judging and told me only the one without sin should cast the first stone. We all are of faith and God honors the faith he has put within each of us (Eph 2:8,9) – to provide us a future and a hope (Jer 29:11).” One took this even further saying, “Salvation is God’s gift, His to give, based upon His work not ours, so judgment comes only to those who despise God’s work and establish their own code.
Some brought up verses confirming those who believe are saved. It also occurred to some since he was raised in a Christian home, they can’t help but believe that at the last he cried out to God – thus they know he was saved. Some blamed people in the church for his rebellion. Several members mentioned though Robert spent his life in sin and rebellion, he had a tender heart – he would give you the shirt off his back. Regarding his struggles with drugs, one friend wrote, “I have had many talks with Robert, too, and he said he never lost faith, he just struggles with it but grows a bit closer to Him each time God gives him a ‘time out.'” So shut your mouth for once and keep your callousness to yourself.” I have total peace and confidence that he is with Jesus. But fortunately we serve a patient, loving, forgiving God. And being callous, insensitive, and judgmental, are just as bad as Robert taking drugs. Why do you think God compares us to sheep? Because we ALL wander and have to be drawn back. Look how many times the Israelites wandered away from God and He always forgive them and drew them back to Himself, like the Good Shepherd He is. He literally wasn’t capable of it from all the damage done to his brain from alcohol and drugs. He always loved Jesus and had a soft spot for Him. Haven’t we all? There were times this rebellion was against God, but mostly he was running from himself. I was there when he asked Jesus to be his Savior.
Robert lost his ability to reason properly when he started using drugs but I know he was saved. One friend wrote: “Anyone who knows the effects of drugs on the brain, knows that when you start taking them, it damages the ability of the brain to develop properly. Thus I spoke up and thus my friends proceeded to rebuke me one called me names, one ignored me altogether and several dismissed my arguments ending our conversations about Robert. While I would like to allow my friends the comfort of this delusion, I thought it was no minor sin to mock God. However, the evidence points in the other direction.
I hope this is true and it is possible he reconciled with God before he died. When the news came Robert was dead, most of our mutual friends posted their grief on social media along with their confidence he was now with Christ and the trials and hardships of his life are over. The fact of the matter is he died with his stash of drugs and the evidence is very slim he ever walked with the Lord – that he ever picked up his cross and followed Christ. One friend claimed he re-dedicated his life to Christ a couple weeks before he died, so they know he was saved. As time wore on, he found himself in and out of jail soon he was fifty years old and soon he was dead. He lived his life this way, though every once in a while would come around to church to re-dedicate his life to the Lord. But it was not long before he was caught up in his old ways of stealing, alcohol abuse, sex and drugs. Several of my friends were there and some say they saw a radiance to his countenance, so they know he was saved. Robert received Christ in a church meeting when he was young. For the sake of this story, we will call this friend Robert. Our mutual friend recently passed away and maybe I brought the subject up too soon but I had no choice as I believed God’s justice was being defamed. Actually, I tried to bring up the discussion and my friends became upset or outraged with me. Recently, a discussion came up among friends whether it is right to claim a deceased mutual friend is in heaven with Christ or not.
0 kommentar(er)
