The Good Of The Father (Witness For The Defense) # 2201

 

Yet hallow the Lord Christ in your hearts, ever ready with a defense for everyone who is demanding from you an account concerning the expectation in you, but with meekness and fear

Peter to the Dispersion (1) 3: 15, Concordant New Testament Translation 

Back in my church days, there were many times that I would take it upon myself to come to the defense of the Lord.  To be ever ready to defend Him from all sorts of blasphemy and heresy.  These days, there have been times where I have reverted back to those old habits, despite knowing God as I now do.  In retrospect, I would ask this one question, does anyone really believe that God needs us to defend Him in anything?  I have been witness to many so called believers who have taken it upon themselves to be that witness for the defense of God.  In my experience, whenever this happens it becomes less of a discussion about our faith in the Lord and more akin to a political debate.  I am reminded of the words of the apostle Peter in which he speaks to hallow the Lord Jesus in our hearts, and to speak Him unto others "With meekness and fear" {Peter to the Dispersion (1) 3:15}.  Forgive me, but I don't think that arguing with someone over the commandments, edicts or church traditions of the Lord treats anyone with meekness.  In my experience, these debates lead more to hurt feelings and grudges.  This begs my next question, is this how the Father desires to be seen, as One Who forces His word on others?  Or, does He desire for us to proclaim Him, as Peter has, in meekness and fear?  I would suggest the latter.  I know a guy who, claiming to be a believer, will adhere to a dogmatic view of the Lord while condemning to hell others who have yet to believe.  Again, is this how God desires to be represented?  I would say no to that all day long and then twice after church on Sunday.  Yet I have dabbled in this defense of God from time to time as well.  I agree that these discussions of the Lord can and will get our ire up at times, but we need to put ourselves in the other persons shoes for a minute.  How is it that we would feel if someone approached us with demands and condemnation?  The best pastors I have ever known do not condemn when speaking Christ unto others, but speak of Him with love and a respect for their audience.  

 I would mention that the word of the Lord is meant to be the good news to all mankind.  Yet I know a man who has considered the New Testament to be the "Fluff" of the bible, and that people need to be confronted with the hard truth as well.  That sin remains an issue, and that those who engage in it are destined for hell.  But has God deemed that sin continue to be a struggle for His children?  I would say no to that, and here's why.  We're told that God, through His love for all of the world, dispatched His Son that all would be saved through Him.  That Christ Jesus has not come to judge the world, but that through Him all would be saved {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  The apostle Paul, in his evangel, speaks that Jesus has died to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  As I have often asked my dogmatic friend, does God truly want to confront us with the brutal truth of an eternity in hell, or grace us with the truth of His love, grace and redemption?  Did Jesus condemn the woman caught in her own sin?  No, His words to her revealed His forgiveness, "From now on by no means any longer be sinning" {Johns Account 8:11}.  Are we any different from that woman caught in sin?  I suggest that Jesus' words to us would, and are, the same.  Go and sin no more.  But Paul speaks to us that sin is no longer the issue.  That we, who have died to sin, how shall we continue to live in it {Paul to the Romans 6:2}.  This is what my friend has referred to as the fluff of the scriptures.  I get it.  This is what I was taught while growing up in the church as well.  That God needed those "Christian soldiers" to defend Him.  I realize now that this was but another lie spoken by the church.  That the Father desires us not to speak words of condemnation, but of the truth we find in His love for us.  THAT needs no defense.  

For thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten Son, that everyone who is believing in Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian.  For God does not dispatch His Son into the world that He should be judging the world, but that the world may be saved through Him 

Johns Account 3: 16-17, Concordant New Testament Translation 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (As The Father) # 2200

 

Jesus, then, answers and said to them, "Verily, verily, I am saying to you, the Son can not be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing, for whatever He may be doing, this the Son is doing likewise 

Johns Account 5: 19, Concordant New Testament Translation 

I recall more than a few years ago when those in the congregation of the old church I used to frequent started wearing bracelets and apparel with the letters WWJD emblazoned on them.  I have since come to refer to this as the "What would Jesus do phase,"  At first it seemed logical.  Have an unruly church member?  What would Jesus do?  Someone falling into temptation?  What would Jesus do?  It seemed that wondering what Jesus would do was the answer to any question a believer might have.  But, wondering what He might do and actually doing as He would are definitely two totally different things.  So, how is it that we can know what Jesus will be doing at any given moment?  Well, Jesus Himself explains this in the gospel of John.  Here, Jesus explains that He only does what it is that He should see the Father doing {Johns Account 5:19}.  So it is that Jesus will never be doing anything of Himself, only that which He observes the Father Himself doing.  So, if we pose the same questions, but in a different format, they become more understandable.  Have an unruly church member?  What would the Father do in this situation?  Have someone who has failed to know the truth about sin?  What would the Father say to them in this instance?  For whatever the Father is doing, that Jesus will be doing as well.  I believe that the marketers of the WWJD movement would have been better off asking, what is God doing?  But, that's just my opinion.  Of course, if we do not know the truth of the Father, how is it that we can know what it is that He is doing?  In yesterdays page, I posed the question that God has but one true character, and that is love {First Epistle of John 4:8}.  A good friend has since reminded me that I was in error in this.  Of course, I remembered the two characteristics of the Father, but somehow it escaped me for a minute.  The truth we have in the Father is that God indeed has two characteristics, that being love AND pain and tragedy, for He is indeed all in all.  However, it is important to note that God CHOOSES to display only His love nature unto His creation.  Therefore, His opposite, pain and tragedy, are not what we ultimately know Him by (I will redo this post at a future date}.  

To know what the Father will be doing at any moment we must, as Jesus has, know the Father.  And who is God?  Well, it is the Fathers love in which we now live {Johns Account 14:20}.  See, Jesus knew the Father very intimately, which is why He could proclaim that He only did what He saw Him doing.  When Philip asked him, "Show us the Father," Jesus had the perfect response {Johns Account 14:8-9}.  That he who has seen Jesus has indeed seen the Father as well.  This falls right in line with the words of Jesus when He spoke that, "I and the Father, We are one" {Johns Account 10:30}.  So, knowing who the Father is and what He is doing is all part of the intimate knowledge which we now have of Him.  Of course, there are those who, either through adhering to wrong teaching or never having known Him, will be unaware of their relationship they share with God.  Of course, this DOES NOT invalidate that relationship in any way, only that He has yet to be revealed in them.  Over the years, I have grown in a better understanding of my own life within the Fathers love.  I grew up being taught that my life was separated from God by sin.  I have since referred to this as one of the lies spoken by the church.  Would God invite us to live within His love while we were still in sin?  The scriptures proclaim the truth to us that Christ Jesus has died to sin, "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  That is ALL sin past, present and future.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we now live free in Gods love.  Again, there will be those who continue to adhere to the same bondage of sin spoken by those within the church.  I'm not that guy.  Knowing that we live within the Father provides us with the intimate knowing of what He is doing.  As with Jesus, we may only do what it is we see the Father doing, if we have that revelation of our life lived within Him. 

Philip is saying to Him, "Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficing us."  Jesus is saying to him, "So much time I am with you, and you do not know Me, Philip!  He who has seen Me has seen the Father, and how are you saying, 'Show us the Father'? 

Johns Account 14: 8-9, Concordant New Testament Translation 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (What You Never Knew About God) # 2199

 

In a beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.  As for the earth, it came to be a chaos and vacant, and darkness was over the surface of the abyss.  And the spirit of Elohim was vibrating over the surface of the waters.  And Elohim said: Let light come to be!  And light came to be.  And Elohim saw the light that it was good.  Then Elohim separated the light from the darkness. 

Genesis 1: 1 - 4, Concordant Old Testament Translation 

It's one of the oldest questions ever asked, and I've asked it myself from time to time.  Why is it that a loving God would allow such suffering and tragedy into this world, into His creation?  Seems like a good question, right?  Well, I would submit that this is more of a question for philosophers than for believers in the Lord.  But let's stop for a minute and unpack this question shall we?  First, we know and believe that God created the heavens and the earth {Genesis 1:1}.  We know that before God spoke His creation, that the earth was "A chaos and vacant" {Genesis 1:2}.  So, the Lord spoke, and the light was created.  And He "Saw the light that it was good" {Genesis 1:4}.  Now, step back for a minute and consider this, what is it that is the opposite of the light?  Yes, darkness is the opposite of the light God created.   I find it interesting that in the gospel of John that Jesus is described as being 'The light of men" {Johns Account 1:4}.  Thus "The light is appearing in the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not" {Johns Account 1:5}.  Once again, we're presented with a pair of opposites.  If Jesus was with God in the beginning as the gospel of John speaks to us, can we assume that Jesus, being the light of men, is the opposite of darkness?  I would say yes to that.  But what is the darkness in the context of Jesus being the light of men?  Well, I would say that the darkness in this context is the world we live in.  For Jesus appeared into the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not.  Indeed, Jesus was presented unto this world, and many refused to grasp the truth which He spoke.  All of this many believers find not so difficult to comprehend.  But this is the easy part.  What if I told you that there is something about God that you never knew?  That our loving God, has an opposite.  Yes, just as the light is the opposite of the darkness, God indeed has an opposite to who He truly is.  But before we can understand this opposite to the Father, we must first know and understand who He truly is.  

What is the true character of God?  Well, the apostle Johns speaks to this in his epistle.  Here, John proclaims that the one true character of God, is love {First Epistle of John 4:8}.  Love is how the Father desires to be known, and love is how He desires us to see Him.  In fact, I would venture to say that it is through His love that God has done all which He has done.  Now, many within the church might discount this as a false teaching.  I get it.  This is why many church going believers continue to struggle with the concept that God could somehow "Allow" tragedy and pain in this world.  I used to think that way as well.  However, it took the death of my mother back in 2016 to change the way that I viewed God.  For years, she had been in pain and living in a care facility.  I did what I was taught to do, I prayed for the Lords healing over her.  When her moment came, I was angry with God for ignoring my prayers.  But had he ignored my prayers for her healing?  It wasn't until some time after her passing that I realized that He had indeed answered my prayer, just not in the way I was expecting.  My mother was no longer suffering or in pain.  Through His nature of love, God had healed her of her pain.  So, what does all of this have to do with God and opposites?  When we understand that the one true nature of God is love, then we can also begin to understand that He does NOTHING out of a desire to bring us pain and suffering.  Pain, tragedy and suffering IS the opposite of God.  Would we know the existence of light if it were not for the darkness?  No, because light is the opposite of the darkness.  Remember, it is God Who separated the light from the darkness.  I understand that this concept of the opposites to God is a tough pill to swallow for many believers, but that does not mean that it's not true.  That simply means that we fail to realize the true nature of the Father.  Yes, I've been there.  Remember that with God there is no turning, that He is the same yesterday, today and forever {To the Hebrews 13:8}.  Therefore, if His true nature is love, then He will not deviate from that.  Therefore, that which we see as tragic and painful, must not be a part of Him, but the opposite of His love nature.  Because we understand that pain and tragedy go against all which he is. 

He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love 

First Epistle of John 4: 8, Concordant New Testament Translation 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (Those Least Among Us) # 2198

 

Yet they were silent, for they argued with one another on the road as to who is greatest.  And, being seated, He summons the twelve and is saying to them, "If anyone is wanting to be first, he will be last of all, and servant of all."  And, taking a little child, He stands it in their midst, and, clasping it in His arms, said to them, "Whoever should be receiving one of such little children in My name, is receiving Me, and whosoever shall be receiving Me is not receiving Me, but Him Who commissions Me."

Marks Account 9: 34-37, Concordant New Testament Translation 

The disciples of Jesus had a problem, and they argued over this while on the way to Capernaum.  Jesus, knowing of their discussion, allowed them to proceed.  The issue they were discussing?  Who is the greatest in the kingdom of the Lord?  See, the disciples were human after all, and they would often display these traits in the presence of Jesus.  For His part, Jesus showed patience and grace as he guided them along.  This situation wasn't any different.  So, when they had finally reached their destination, Jesus spoke some truth for His followers to contemplate.  Jesus did not rank His followers by ability or seniority, but by how they humbled themselves.  That's right, whether they were called first or last did not matter, what mattered in the end was how they conducted themselves.  "If anyone is wanting to be first, he will be last of all" {Marks Account 9:35}.  I thought of these words of Jesus the other day as I was reading a short story about the man the church has been referring to as "Saint Peter."  And I wondered, would Peter have allowed himself to be exalted in such a way?  Remember, this is the very same man who denied Jesus before His crucifixion {Lukes Account 22:54-62}.  Granted, it is not Peter who decided that he deserved such recognition, but the mainstream church which has promoted him to such status.  I believe that were we to speak to Peter, that he would disavow these praises of men and humbled himself as Jesus had spoken him.  But Peter is not alone in being uplifted by the church, not by a long shot.  A number of the other disciples have also achieved saint status as well.  And what of the so called leader of the Catholic church?  How much reverence is displayed to him?  Indeed, it seems that many within the church have forgotten the words spoken by Jesus, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.  

The story goes that during a University of Alabama football game, the Crimson Tide were playing Texas A &M and their star QB Johnny Manziel.  The odds makers had favored the Aggies to defeat the Tide by a good margin.  True to form, Manziel displayed his cockiness throughout the game.  In the end, the Alabama squad shocked everyone by defeating the favored Texas team.  As the two teams met at midfield, one of the Alabama players took Johnny Manziel aside and gave him some good advice, "Humble yourself."  Now, I admit that I myself have needed this advice too many times in my own life.  Just as that Crimson Tide player gave advice to the cocky young college player, so it is that Jesus spoke wisdom unto His own followers, humble yourselves.  But, who wants to be told that we must be humble?  More often than not, we choose to follow the fleshly path and serve ourselves instead of being a servant to others.  Yes, I've been there as well.  One of the biggest burdens to shed in our own realization of our life within the Fathers love is that it is no longer about a life we live, but of our life in Him.  This is what Jesus was attempting to speak to His followers that day.  Does God rank people according to who was saved first?  Not a chance!  As I said, it is the church that has introduced this ranking of those who believe in the Lord.  We also see this in the internal politics practiced by those within the church.  I have had the unique opportunity to have shared many conversations with a dear friend who once used to be among that crowd.  Even while he was serving the congregation, something didn't sit right with him.  I get it.  For instead of humbleness he witnessed favoritism and politics.  One might not expect to find such practices within the church, but they're indeed there.  I dare to say that whenever people are involved, humbleness will go out the window.  Again, I have been guilty of this myself.  As I said, these bonds of the flesh are often difficult to break.  However, it can be done.  Since experiencing my new relationship with the Father after His revelation given to me, I have slowly come to realize that I don't live for myself, but for Him.  We are not separate, but in union {Johns Account 14:20}.  The apostle Paul speaks brilliantly to this in Galatians.  Paul understood that his life was not within Christ {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}.  Of course, those within the church will continue to speak to our life separated from God.  I also believe that the words spoken by Jesus also speak clearly to them, humble yourselves.  

Yet anyone who shall be exalting himself shall be humbled, and anyone who shall be humbling himself shall be exalted

Matthews Account 23: 12, Concordant New Testament translation

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (Knowing Not God) # 2197

 

He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love 

First Epistle of John 4: 8, Concordant New Testament Translation

I saw a blurb the other day of a priest who was suddenly killed when a ceremonial cross in the church he was leading fell and killed him.  Not thinking about it, I sent a message to a brother in the Lord asking the question, "Do you think the Lord was angry with him?"  In my heart, I knew that this was a foolish question, but I had to ask.  See, this is what many who populate today's churches would think, that God somehow uses personal pain and tragedy to teach us a lesson.  I will call this bunk every day of the week!  For the record, many so called believers are not even aware of the one true nature of God.  The apostle Johns speaks to this nature of the Lord in his epistle {First Epistle of John 4:8}.  That being that God, above all else, is love.  Huh?  You mean that same supreme being who killed mankind with a flood is love?  The same God who allowed the Israelites to wander aimlessly in the desert is love?  The God Who allowed the Godly man Job to endure the tortures of Satan is love?  Yes!  God is love.  However, I, like so many others before me, have often struggled with that reality of God.  How is it that a loving God can allow such pain and tragedy?  I know now that I need not wonder about such things, because I know that He is love above all else.  Here's the shocker that many Christians have a difficult time understanding, that everything God does, He does out of His love for us.  What?  Again, it's taken me some time to understand this truth of the Father.  For much of my life, I was immersed in the teachings and theology of the mainstream church, and I followed along with what I was taught.  That was all I knew about God.  This is why I can cut todays believers a bit of slack when it comes to knowing the truth of God the Father.  Because I was once among that crowd.  Yet, as He did with the man Saul, God revealed Himself to me at the appropriate time in my life.  While Saul was converted on that road to Damascus, I followed a different path altogether.  I would suggest that each persons path to knowing the truth of God is different from the next.  In the coming days, I will be sharing my testimony of how writing a simple blog page helped introduce me into a better knowing of who God truly is.  But for now I will say this, that far too many believers are unaware of the truth of their life within the Father.  Jesus Himself speaks to this union in the gospel of John {Johns Account 14:20}.  That our life is not lived separated from God, as many within the church will espouse to, but IN His love.  So, if the truth of the Father is that He is love, we enjoy a life within His love.  The trouble is that far too many Christians fail to realize this truth that they have within Him, and that's where the issue begins.  When we see ourselves as separated from God, that is the view that we will have of Him, cold and distant.  This is simply not true, and a lie spoken by those within the church.  Trust me, there is plenty of scriptures to support the truth of our life lived in Him.  But that isn't what those in the church want us to believe.  This doesn't fit the narrative.  Yet that in no way means it is a false teaching.  For those who have come to know Him, it is the truth of who He is. 

For you died, and your life is hidden together with Christ in God 

Paul to the Colossians 3: 3, Concordant New Testament Translation 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (A Voice In The Wilderness) # 2196

 

I am marveling that thus, swiftly, you are transformed from that which calls you in the grace of Christ, to a different evangel, which is not another, except it be that some who are disturbing you want also to distort the evangel of Christ  

Paul to the Galatians 1: 6-7, Concordant New Testament Translation 

I have been writing this page for some time it seems.  In it I have laid out the foundations of what it is that I believe.  My hope is that others will read this page and be introduced to the same revelation given unto me by the Father.  But there are others who refuse to see things in the way that I do.  I get it.  The other day a friend challenged me on the wording of the words of Paul we find in Galatians 2:20.  It is here where Paul adamantly describes his life within Christ.  This happens to be one of the core verses of what I believe.  Yet my friend seemed to be of the belief that this was simply something related only to Paul and not to be translated to the rest of Gods children.  Like I said, I get it.  I get it because I know who it is that has influenced his opinion.  I used to be among that crowd myself.  I sat in that pew each Sunday and swallowed the kool aid which was preached from the pulpits.  I believed in the sermons that the pastor spoke as if they were the gospel.  To me they were the gospel of the Lord.  I mean, I wouldn't be misled by a pastor, right?  Wrong!  Turns out that the gospel which has been revealed to me by the Father is different from that which was pushed on me all those years in the mainstream church.  A lot different.  This isn't me believing in some blasphemy, this is my belief in the scriptures of the Lord.  Yet it seems that those within the church don't interpret the bible in the same way that I see it.  That was evident in my interaction with my friend the other day.  In his evangel, the apostle Paul marveled at those who were so quickly turned to another evangel than the one he had spoken to them.  Which was not another evangel than the words which Paul spoke but "Except it be that some who are disturbing you want also to distort the evangel of Christ" {Paul to the Galatians 1:7}.  These were not the words of Paul, but a watered down version.  This is the struggle I face today, with those who have accepted a watered down, religious inspired version of the evangel of Christ Jesus.  So much so that they refuse to even accept the suggestion that their own interpretation is not at all what God intended. 

Notice the warning which Paul gives us in his words in Galatians, that the believers he once knew in Galatia had been seduced by some who wanted to distort the gospel of Christ which he himself had spoke unto them.  The question Paul must have asked of them is, why?  Why would you distort the truth of the gospel of the grace of Christ Jesus for a counterfeit?  A counterfeit which speaks not of grace, but of condemnation.  Why would you desire to be enslaved and not free?  These are the questions I've asked more than a few believers myself.  In response, as with my friend, they often defend their adaptation of the gospel by claiming that it's of the scriptures.  While this counterfeit gospel might have sources within the bible, so do the words spoken by Paul which we find within his evangel.  Yet when I attempt to introduce the words of the evangel of grace spoken by Paul, I'm often told that I am "Cherry picking" scriptures to support my blasphemous beliefs.  Well, someone here is cherry picking the words of scripture, but it's not me.  As Paul has spoken, there are those within the church who seek to distort the evangel of Christ Jesus we find within the scriptures.  In other words, don't blame the message, blame the messenger.  For it is the messenger who distorts the words of the evangel of grace and distort it into a message of condemnation.  Taking the grace of the forgiveness of sin and twisting it into something completely different.  Paul speaks that Jesus has died to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  That we no longer live in the condemnation of unforgiven sin, for through Christ we are now dead to it {Paul to the Romans 6:2}.  But I guess that's just me cherry picking verses again.  As Paul received the revelation of the Father on that road to Damascus, so it is that I have received it as well.  Recently, a dear friend encouraged me to hold firm to my revelation and to continue speaking that which the Father has put upon my heart.  That is the reason I do this.  

For the era will be when they will not tolerate sound teaching, but, their hearing being tickled, they will heap up for themselves teachers in accord with their own desires 

Paul to Timothy (2) 4: 3, Concordant New Testament Translation 

~Scott~ 

The Good Of The Father (Living The Lie) # 2195

 

For you died, and your life is hid together with Christ in God 

Paul to the Colossians 3: 3, Concordant New Testament Translation 

I have written on this topic more than a few times before, but recent events in my life have led me once again to remind others of the dangers of living the lie of the deceiver.  First off, what exactly is the lie of the deceiver?  Well, to live the lie is to believe in the false statement spoken by Satan to Adam and Eve in the garden.  That if Eve were to eat of that which the Lord had commanded her not to, that she would "Not surely die" {Genesis 3:4}.  Not only that, but "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" {Genesis 3:5}.  Be like God?  Is this even possible?  Not at all.  However, Satan was under the delusion that he could be more important than the God Who created him.  It is he who once declared that "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high" {Isaiah 14:13-14}.  Clearly, Satan had deceived himself into thinking that he is more important than God.  This is the lie which he lives, and this is the lie which he continues to speak to the children of God.  Unfortunately, there are those among us who have swallowed that lie hook, line and sinker.  I have a gym friend who is among that crowd.  I have thought for awhile that he showed the very signs of narcistic behavior.  Living for himself, thinking that God wanted him only to be happy and treating others as if they were his personal property, females especially.  The more I thought about it, I realized that this went deeper than the behaviors of a narcissist.  He is, in fact, living the lie spoken by the deceiver.  He has accepted the lie that he lives separate from God.  But where is it that people are introduced to this falsehood?  Definitely not through scripture.  For God has spoken that we do not live separate from Him, but WITHIN  Him.  Jesus Himself speaks to this union in the book of John {Johns Account 14:20}.  No, we're not introduced to the lie through the scriptures, but through those within the church who have misinterpreted the scriptures for thousands of years.  It's no wonder, then, that I refer to this false teaching as the lie spoken by the church.

The author Norman Grubb, in his book No Independent Self, exposes the lie which has been spoken by the church for so long.  Grubb writes that "There is no independent, self-operating self in the universe, except the One who calls Himself the I AM {Exodus 3:14}.  Amen!  How is it that we can be separate from God Who has created us in His very likeness {Genesis 1:27}?  In his evangel, the apostle Paul speaks to the truth that we do not live separate from God, but that we are "Hid together with Christ in God" {Paul to the Colossians 3:3}.  Does this sound like we've been separated from God?  Not at all.  However, I doubt that you will ever hear it preached from the pulpits of the church anytime soon.  For those within the church have used this false teaching to keep people in the pews for generations.  The message is simple but effective.  You are sinners in need of Gods forgiveness, and you need the church and its archaic traditions to overcome that.  But wait, you can never overcome your sin, because despite the truth that Christ Jesus has given Himself for the defeat of sin, the church continues to preach that sin is relevant in the lives of believers.  Again, Paul disputes this lie in his evangel.  Paul speaks to the truth that Jesus has died to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  Not only that, but that we have died upon that cross with Him {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}.  How is it that those within the church can consider us sinners if we have died with Christ to sin {Paul to the Romans 6:2}?  This is why I speak to the truth that it is not through the scriptures, but through the lie of the deceiver that Gods children have been misled.  The truth spoken in scripture speaks not of our bondage to sin, but of our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus {Paul to the Galatians 5:1}.  Therefore, my prayer for my friend is not that he would change his behavior, but that the Father would reveal unto him the truth of his life in His love.  Only then can the lie be broken.  

For freedom Christ frees us!  Stand firm, then, and be not again enthralled with the yoke of slavery 

Paul to the Galatians 5: 1, Concordant New Testament Translation 

~Scott~