In my previous post, I did an in-depth look at sin and what a sinful life leads to. One of the scriptures I used is Revelation 21:8. I promised at the end of my previous post that my next post would be an in-depth look at the scripture of Revelation 21:8.
Looking back on Revelation 21:8 it mentions the sins that lead to one going to the lake of fire. Many of the items listed in this scripture of items that we have adopted into our society and even Christians view some of these as okay. There are many churches and preachers who lack correcting sin and preaching on sin in churches today. If you ever go into the Christian section at Barnes and Noble you will see many good Christian books by great authors. However, we must be careful of what is true and what matches God’s word. There are many ‘feel good preachers’, who get you to listen to them by telling you what you want to hear rather than the entire word of God. These types of preachers and teachers are cowards for not giving the full message of God. We are warned of this in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”.
In Revelation 21:8, it also mentions the faithless will be in hell. We are warned of this in Romans 14:23, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”. We also have mentioned the murderers, idolaters, and liars, you simply just need to look at the ten commandments for these and know they are wrong.
The scripture also mentions sexual immorality, we have such a culture war over this one in our world today with what is now acceptable. We have many books and movies coming out that are sexually immoral. I will blast one that got a good bit of popularity very recently and that is Fifty Shades of Grey. This book was so popular in bookstores everywhere, and the movie was even more popular. I was a senior in high school when this book came out, I saw many people, glued to this book. Many were talking with each other about this book. I was even surprised to see middle school students reading the book, I was shocked that any parent in their right mind would allow their child to read that book. The enemy is setting up camp in the entertainment world to make immoral content appear interesting to people of all ages. There is a video clip from Paul Harvey regarding this that was recorded many years ago and I encourage you to listen to it. I will link the recording at the end of this post. Imagine how much of a better world we would live in if people would have got excited about the Bible and talking about that Bible, instead of Fifty Shades of Grey. Aside from a current event perspective, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God”. Additionally, 1 Corinthians 7:2 says, “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”.
One last item that was mentioned in Revelation 21:8 that I would like to discuss is the term sorcerer. It is defined as ‘a person who claims or is believed to have magic powers’. Some of the synonyms for sorcerer are a wizard, witch, magician, warlock, enchanter, enchantress, magus, and several more. I believe I could count four occasions during my K-12 experience when a magician was brought into school. Many people might look into tarot card readings or horoscopes or see a witch to tell them their future. We are warned that people that practice sorcerer is false and are of the devil. Though they might not seem evil we must be so careful. 2 Corinthians 11:44 says, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”. Additionally, Leviticus 19:31 says, ““Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”. Our children are also exposed to learning witchcraft everytime they go to the library or bookstore. You will often see the very popular Harry Potter series. There is an excellent video of a former witch who gave her life to Christ, she discusses how the Harry Potter series teachers and exposes children to witchcraft. I will also link that video below.
There is so much more of how the devil works around us in this dark world that we are exposed to every day. As followers of Christ we must be careful of what we do, think, read, watch, and listen to. I would like to challenge you to assess what you expose yourself to daily in this dangerous world. Do any of the things I listed in this article apply? As followers of Christ we must not become devoted to things of this world, but the Word of God and serving God with our unique purpose. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”.
Paul Harvey Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Brmpv2D-xk
Ex-Witch Video Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZccQTMdqQ10