BIG W ‘RON’ G
A sure way in which Christians can contribute
toward exclusion from the age to come, is to disobey God and SAY there
will be no MILLENNIAL KINGDOM.
"And the Lord said, I have pardoned
according to thy word, but In every deed, as I live, and as all the earth
shall be filled with the glory of the Lord; because all those men which have
seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness,
yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely
they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any
of them that despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another
spirit with him, and HATH FOLLOWED ME FULLY, him will I bring into the
land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it"
... "Say unto them, As I live, Surely as YE
HAVE SPOKEN in my ears, SO I WILL DO TO YOU" (Num. 14: 20- 24, 28).
The Apostle Paul, writing to "the
"Now these things happened unto them by
way of example; and they were written for our admonition upon whom the
ends of the ages are come," (1 Cor. 10: 11).
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"He
might have thought it, but big Ron Atkinson certainly shouldn’t have said it! Well at least not live on air when thousands
of people were listening! But he did and
he has, and that moment of indiscretion on his part has cost him dearly. It has cost him not only one of the best jobs
you could ever have, watching football around the world, but also a whopping
great salary for doing it, as well as giving him, a reputation of making racist
remarks.
"One
moment, one word, but look at the damage it has made. All those years in football as a player,
manager and now a commentator brought to an end in a second. Big Ron is a big man, but it looks like his
wee tongue has let him down.
"And
it has been the tongue that has been letting us all down for years. How many politicians have had to resign
because of something they said in an interview, how many friendships or sadder
still marriages, have ended because words were said that could never be taken
back.
"The
tongue is a small thing, in fact you can’t see it most of the time and yet
small things can have an incredible influence. We put a small bit into a horses’ mouth to
control it, a huge ship can be controlled by a small rudder, or a huge fire can
be started with only a small spark.
"Size
does not determine outcome, but origin does. Someone has written, ‘what
we are is what we live and what we live is what we
sow, and what we sow determines what we reap.’ In other words origin determines outcome.
"Unfortunately
for Big Ron he was caught with his foot in his mouth. The heart of his problem was not what he said,
but what he thought. If he had never
thought it, he would never have said it. Sometimes, ‘I didn’t mean to say that’, is
just another way of saying, ‘I was thinking that, but I didn’t mean for you to
hear it!!’
"A
man called James once wrote this very useful insight to the problem with the
tongue. ‘With
the tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men, who have
been made in God’s image. Out of the
same mouth come praise and cursing.’*
[* From James 3: 9, 10a, N.I.V.]
"With
one breath the tongue can be used for kind, encouraging, sympathetic and
peaceful words but in the next breath, it can be cutting, hurtful, cruel and
racist. How is it that we can use the
tongue in such diverse ways? The key is
not what is on the tongue but what is in the heart. Maybe if Big Ron had of had some genuine
concern for
"Be
careful what you say, think before you speak. What you sow is what you reap, and what you
say cannot be taken back. It might not
cost you a multi million pound contract but it might cost you something more
valuable, the friendship and respect of those around you."
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Printed in the April 27, 2004 issue of The Leader.
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NOTES.
(1)
There is no doubt, Big Ron’s tongue blurted out a ‘big
wrong,’ and it cost him dearly; but no comparison can be made to the
cost of what multitudes of the redeemed say: and they consider it ‘a small thing!’ They believe that they will be in heaven when
the "little flock" are upon the earth!
But God’s Word says differently. James 1: 12; 2 Thess. 2: 4-11.
Maybe
if Christians had ‘some genuine concern’ for
their future, they would also ‘think before they speak’:
for Anti-Millennial and Post Millennial beliefs concerning ‘the age to come’ are echoed in the words of "Korah, Eliab, and On son of Peleth,"
( Num. 16: 1).:-
"You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of
them, and the lord is with them. Why do
you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly? ... "We will not come! Isn’t it enough that you have brought us
up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us? Moreover you haven’t brought us into a
land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and
vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes
of these men? No, we will not come,"
(Num. 16:3, 12-14).
And
we know what happened them! "They went down alive into Sheol,"
(Num. 16: 30): and there they will remain
until the end of the Lord’s Millennium, (Rev. 20:
12, 13).
In
other words, according to the Post-Millennialists and their teaching, this ‘evil’ age is Christ’s Millennium! This age is their ‘land
of milk and honey’! and they are perfectly
content to enjoy it: all others who believe the contrary are speaking nonsense!
On
the other hand, the Anti-Millennialist leaves no time for God to fulfil His
promises. He says, ‘God will not punish
us! We are all holy, every one of us, and the Lord is with us,’
This
is what is in the heart of multitudes of redeemed children of God: and we know
what Jesus taught us about the heart of man:-
"The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart"
... "For out of the heart come evil thoughts" - [that is,
thoughts contrary to the Word of God, etc. (Matt.
15: 18, 19)]
(2)
Big Ron is not the only one who was ‘caught with his
foot in his mouth’! Multitudes of
uninformed regenerate believers are in a similar situation. They think the law of the harvest does not
apply to them, and what they sow will not determine what
they reap! God says:-
"Do not be deceived. God
cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature,
from that nature will reap destruction ..." (Gal.6: 7, 8).
In
other words, immoral Christians are in danger of failing to attain unto "a better resurrection,"
(Heb. 11: 35). God, in judgement, does not show
favouritism; disobedient believers will be punished for wilful sin; their
bodies will remain decomposed when the bodies of those whom He considers "worthy" of the kingdom age will be raised
"imperishable," (Luke 20: 35; 1 Cor. 15: 15: 42).
If
Christians had ‘some genuine concern’ for God’s
actions, ‘rather than criticism’ and disbelief
of His Word; then something much more important might be attained - the ‘friendship and respect of’ Christ in ‘the age to come’:-
"Well done, my good servant! ... "Because you have been
trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities,"
(Luke 19: 17).
Being
faithful to the truth has cost many believers more than ‘a million pound contract’: it has cost them their life. But look at the reward they will
receive - life in a glorified body to rule and reign with Christ
for 1,000 years.
There
is a limit to God’s patience; Christians need to take care what they say. Their little tongues could let them down once
too often, and ‘that moment of indiscretion’ on
their part could cost them dearly: God’s oath of exclusion from the kingdom is much
more costly than ‘a multi million pound
contract’!
CHRISTIAN! BE RESPONSIBLE: THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK. WHAT YOU SAY CANNOT BE TAKEN BACK. WORDS OF
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