Some of this is chilling...
NEVER MOCK GOD!
The short reports you are about to read below sound chilling; they might even sound like our God was gruesome and likes punishing. The chilling factor might be true. But NOT so the punishing factor. And this is something we all have to keep in mind! Our God is a loving God, who took our punishment on Himself and died on the cross to redeem you and you and you and also you and me! Because He knows that without HIS sacrifice, NO-ONE of us would be saved, meaning be able to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. Read about the insurmountable abyss between God and us that I explained in The Bridge, to really understand this.
What happened with those people in the below short reports is that they mocked God knowingly. They called upon themselves what happened to them, please have this very clear! God never punishes us for our doubts, our questions, our not-understanding Him, our being confused. He looks into our hearts and sees perfectly well what's inside there. So if He sees your doubts, questions, or anything of what I just mentioned and even more, He will do whatever is necessary for you to understand. And even then it is up to YOU how you react. But if you DO know the reality of God and still MOCK Him, this is something very different. Can you relate to what I'm saying here?
Make a personal reflection about this. It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7): "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Here are some men and women who mocked God:
JOHN LENNON: Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said: "Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him" (1966). Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.
TANCREDO NEVES (President of Brazil): During the Presidential campaign in 1985, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency. Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.
CAZUZA (Brazilian composer, singer and poet): During a show in Canecão (Rio de Janeiro), whilst smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said: "God, that's for you." He died at the age of 32 of AIDS in a horrible manner.
THE MAN WHO BUILT TITANIC: After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: "Not even God can sink it." The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic...
MARILYN MONROE: She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: "I don't need your Jesus". A week later she was found dead in her apartment.
BON SCOTT: The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang: "Don't stop me, I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell". On February 19, 1980, Bon Scott was found. He had been choked by his own vomit.
CAMPINAS/São Paulo in 2005; in Campinas, Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend. The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter - holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: "MY DAUGHTER, GO WITH GOD AND MAY HE PROTECT YOU." She responded: "ONLY IF HE (GOD) TRAVELS IN THE TRUNK, CAUSE INSIDE HERE IT'S ALREADY FULL". Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a crash. Everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none were broken.
CHRISTINE HEWITT: The Jamaican Journalist and entertainer said the Bible was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.
Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus. Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.
What benefit does it have, if a man gains the whole world but loses his soul? What can man give in exchange of his soul? (Matthew 16:26).
Following you will read a Biblical point on those happenings. As you can see they are not new, but people of all times had problems with this. I do hope you won't see a punishing factor in this scripture, but that you will cleary see God's point in all of this: He wants transparency, honesty, seriousness! Anything less cannot be accepted. At this point, He is not to be mocked. This, I guess, is the point that often causes us difficulties, as we don't take God serious enough. We try to defend our iniquitries and think God has to go along with them. And this is then where certain people are overthrown by the evil and begin mocking God. Why don't we take this serious and start believing HIM and not our own limited mind? Never forget: GOD LOVES YOU!
Why do we lie?
"There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception.
Then Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God."
As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. …
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what happened. Peter asked her, "Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?"
"Yes," she replied, "that was the price."
And Peter said, "How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this—conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too." (Acts 5:1-9 NLT)
Holding back
The sin Ananias and Sapphira committed was not stinginess or holding back part of their money; they were free to choose whether or not to sell the land and how much to give. Their sin was lying to God and God's people by saying they gave the whole amount while they were holding some back for themselves, trying to make themselves appear more generous than they really were. This act was judged harshly because dishonesty and covetousness are destructive in a church, preventing the Holy Spirit from working effectively.
from the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p. 949"
