Is God Love?

The title of this post may have caused you to read circumspectly.  To which I challenge you to do. For it has grown apparent that in these current days in America we have lost our basic reverence of the Lord.  Proverbs 1:7 tells us that "The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord."  With this in mind, how then do we fear a God of universal love and forgiveness?  Do not take me out of context, for God IS eternal love and forgiveness for which he proved throughout the scriptures in his bold plan of redemption.  However, love and forgiveness are just a few characteristics of God, which in many cases, American-Evangelicals pronounce as His SOLE character.

We are given clear examples through biblical history of the characteristic nature of God.  He is;

• Sovereign-  In complete control; there is nothing that takes God by surprise, nor is He the victim of any created being under his sovereignty. Nothing happens by chance.  (Exodus, Esther, Acts, {All of the Bible}) 
• Supreme- The Godhead (Father, Son, Spirit) is not  equaled by any created being.  (Ie. Satan) (To clarify Trinitarian Theology, John 1:1-4; Col. 1:15-17 deems Christ as "Uncreated")
• Righteous in Judgment-  There are specific examples in scripture that point to God's righteous judgment.  God has never falsely accused any created being.  (Genesis 3:14 {The cursing of the serpent}, Numbers 20:12 {Moses forbade of the Promised Land}, Jonah, David & Bathsheba {and family}, and that's just to name a few...  )
• Righteous in Anger- The mere anger of men does not equal the righteous anger of God which despises and detests evil and all that is ungodly.  (Psalm 7:11-13 "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.") 
• Righteous in Wrath-  The wrath of God is the culmination of his Righteous Anger and Righteous Judgment perpetrated upon the creation that is under HIS subjection. (The Flood, Egypt in Exodus, Sodom and Gomorrah, Isaiah 37:36 {The Slaying of the 185,000}, the atonement of Christ Jesus, and of course ALL of Revelation.)   
• Love-  God surrendered all so that we may be reconciled with Him.  His plan of salvation reflects the major character of God as being love (but not the only), so that we may have a full relationship with him. Never have there been nor ever shall there be another who has fulfilled the ultimate sacrifice that which Christ Jesus already has.    

It is necessary to note these properties of the Living God due to the rise of apostasy in the church.  Heresy is being preached in and throughout our society with much outspokenness in our culture, but little opposition seems to be found outside of the walls of the church.  Just as bacteria are apt to grow in a warm and moist environment, so  is apostasy equally abundant in the climate of lukewarm Christianity.

The sight of American-Evangelicalism is worshippers bathed in a smoky haze.  Yielding praise through highly energetic and emotional events, glazed by the upbeat joy of a euphoric and almost catatonic state.  While there is nothing initially wrong by becoming engulfed by this worship, there is however, a trend beginning to rise.  The Hyper-Evangelical (as I will state them), is one who has become so infatuated with contemporary praise, the mega church atmosphere, and the selfish gospel of prosperity and healing that they know only how to worship in this sense.  They have no zeal for the study and word of God, for their zeal is in their performances.  They suffer for they know not how to evangelize.  They become soft, and easily toppled by the slightest rebuke from an unbeliever.  Instead they fade into the crowd, raise their hands, and declare "God is love"...   

It should be the cry of our hearts to pronounce our faith!  We have received, by the blood of the martyrs, glorious reformed doctrines as well as BIBLES!  As evangelicals we owe our roots to the protestant reformers.  Yet I feel if Martin Luther or John Knox were to see the church as it is today, they would vomit.  We seem primarily concerened with the mediocre differences within our denominations as opposed to banding together to engage apostates.  The Jehovah's Witnesses deem Christ an angel, which is clearly disproven in scripture, just as the Church of Latter Day Saints would preach that Christ is created, along with his brother Satan (I won't even go there)...  Or how about the Idolatry of Catholicism?  Have we become too familiar with our society, as believers, not to engage individuals? Or have we decided that each individual is subject to their own opinion?  Acts 10:34, "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons."  God has separated us believers from the world so that we may accomplish one purpose.  To go into all the world baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirt, AND teaching ALL things that which CHRIST has commanded us...  (Mathew 28:16-20)

Never in scripture do we find references of Purgatory...  Nor do we find evidence for partial salvation, in which the believer is only partially saved through faith, but earns his entry into eternity by works and upon the pardons of sin from men!  We observe the so called, "faithful" (on their bicycles), spreading damnable heresies to the lost daily, and yet their faith seems to OUTNUMBER OURS!

How then will we engage the universalist or the secular humanist with such little faith? What about those in the church who subscribe to heresies such as Palageanism and Semi-Palageanism?  Who indicate that God has not given man a task that is unreasonable to accomplish.  That by refraining from ALL sin, throughout the individual's life, he may be granted eternity.  This philosophy seeks to nullify the doctrines of Total Depravity and Original Sin, to which we know to be purely scriptural.  These people are not saved, nor are they exempt from our gospel message!   

It is then imperative to know God for who he is, so that these false doctrines may not be abundantly spread.  It is our duty, as true believers, to guard the truth with our very lives.  Although we may stumble and fall, it is crucial that we continue to seek God with our WHOLE HEARTS, studying the scriptures daily.  Let us take zeal in knowing our protestant heritage, and seek to know the wonderful doctrine that has been passed down to us by those who made it available, so that through the spirit and careful review, we may discern truth. 

So as a result, when God is "all love" and absent in his judgment, a liberal faith is born.  Liberal believers go to church, go to seminary, work at Christian bookstores, and preach the gospel as unto their own understanding!  As we speak the scriptures are being contorted and raped by so called "believers".  Our number one threat is not the atheist, nor has it ever been, it is the heretic sitting beside you in the church.  Satan has seated himself in a pew and hums along to our favorite hymns.  We must be on guard at all time, and "...honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; [doing] it with gentleness and respect." (1 peter 3:15)

Now it is important to note, that the reformers were also viewed as liberal heretics and were persecuted and slaughtered by the Roman Catholic Church.  However they were dealing with an apostate church.  We now have a set of reformed doctrine, from the word of God, that never existed during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire.  In fact, even having your own bible was punishable by death.  We now know what the truth IS and we as believers MUST preserve these truths even if it calls for our blood.

It is of severe consequence to allow our voices to be silenced by the god of this world.  Not only shall we lose reward in heaven, but we shall see Satan reap a greater harvest than if we had fulfilled our commission.  Do not allow the rubberized-soft edges of our socially relative culture to put a protective padding around the sword of the Spirit. Let us instead, be bold, and ready with the full truth, engaging those poised against us by love.

"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Rev. 6:10)  We too cry for our vengeance, knowing that it is only by God that righteous judgment can be enacted.  However, we also cry out for vengeance against the blood that we have shed.  It should be of the most sincere desire of our hearts, to shed our blood for the commission Christ gave us. 

In conclusion, let us not be enamoured by the glitz of the "God of Love", nor may we fall victim to the schemes of those declaring God as an indispensable source of healing and prosperity.  Jesus didn't heal every sick person in Israel, nor had he raised all the dead in their tombs.  Instead he restored those who had faith in the ONE TRUE GOD, who reigns supreme, as the sovereign judge of those deserving of his loving grace and mercy.  May we be endowed with the discernment and the zeal of our church fathers, who upheld the word of God, even unto death against the so called "church".  Let us not be fooled, let us stand true, and let us never remain silent for we have been commanded to be outspoken.  Sola fide.