Man's Love or God's Love

First, we must recognize the holiness of God for what it is. God is pure and holy. These two terms, pure and holy, are One. They cannot be separated from one another. God is separate from His creation because He alone is Pure. All pureness comes from Him. We have an idea of purity throughout the natural world. We speak of a pure stream. We can imagine a pure landscape that has no imperfections.  We even can think pure thoughts (we think). But are any of these things pure? If we stop for a moment and consider what the concept of “pure” entails, we must admit that we know of nothing physical that could be really pure, but the concept remains within our minds, nonetheless. When we speak of the holiness of God, we mean His absolute Purity. To become pure, or holy, one must set something apart. This is in order to remove any contaminating influences. Chemical laboratories need methods for obtaining extremely pure substances in order to remove any influence other substances may have on an experiment or on the final product. Very involved procedures are used in order to insure chemical purity. 

In a religious sense, purity or holiness can be obtained in only one way. We know that God has sent his holy sacrifice, Jesus the Lamb of God, in order to perfect those who come to Him. This perfection is obtained only by God granting it so, otherwise, there could be no perfection. But if God grants it, then why is there so much un-holiness, imperfection, uncleanness, impurity?  Because the granting of it only comes by faith in God’s finished work in Christ. If holiness and purity are One, then certainly God is Holy. God is One.  But we also read that God is Love. Is love separate from holiness or purity? This cannot be.  So when we think of God’s love, we must mean holiness. If we do not understand this concept, then we cannot progress in God’s love; we will always be kept from it because we must substitute something else for God’s love in order to function as human beings. Again, we must substitute something else for God’s love in order to function as human beings. This is called the mind of the flesh. The mind of the flesh thinks it knows about holiness and love, but as the scripture has said “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is death.” God’s love does not lead to death. 

As a contrast to God’s love, let us look at human love apart from God.  Paul warned that in the last days perilous times would come.  Why? Because men will be “lovers of self.” They will love, but they will be unholy. They will have a form of godliness, but will deny the power of holiness. They will mix un-holiness with the concept of God’s love, thereby profaning God’s holy altar. Let us see what this “lovers of self” concept leads to.  Paul says that men will be “lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God: holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power, and avoid such as these.” (2 Tim 3:2-5).

Men are very good at pretending to be loving and holy. These are called religious hypocrites. They profess to know God but deny Him by their works. They appear as sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves, feeding their fleshly appetites at the expense of God’s church. They are full of fornication, adultery, theft, homosexuality, murder, etc. Fornicators are a good example of false love. A fornicator allures through much seduction and flattery. He lures young women into his lair where he destroys them (and women vice-versa). He promises many things, including God’s love. It seems to be real, because the heart is warmed and thrilled.  But as we said before, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death.  Some of the very worst sexual offenders are the best at keeping up a holy front. Look at the cult leaders who steal men’s wives and use them as their own “concubines.” They do this in the name of love. Everyone has smiles, except maybe the wives’ husbands, but even they are many times duped into believing that wife-swapping is part of Christian love.

We know that a thief steals hearts as well as money. He must first con the potential dupe. Love works well. He convinces the woman that he loves her then takes all her money. He becomes the best buddy of another man so he can rob him blind. He does not care about real love, because he doesn’t know what it is. Neither do his victims. How does murder fit in with human love? How often does someone hate another because they “love” him or her? How many times has a husband killed his wife or her lover (or both) in the name of love? How many times has a spouse left in the name of “love”? How vicious hate can be when it involves the so-called object of affection! A great amount of human destruction has taken place as a result of this bent kind of love. We could go on and on about offenders and false love, but there is one offender who is more unholy than the rest and yet pretends to be more loving than the rest: the homosexual. 

The homosexual has been “given over” declares the scriptures. He or she has left the natural use, impure even as it is, and been given over to unnatural impulses. This is so that they can defile their bodies among themselves. This is the single most defiling act a person can do to their own body or to the body of another. In time past, it was recognized even by those not professing holiness that homosexuality was impure. But now, in these last days, homosexuality is becoming entrenched into the church. Why? Because it is not seen as unholy.  

The homosexual movement within the church portrays a deep sense of care and loving. If you talk to a homosexual, he or she can put on very good airs about being loving. But just like the thief and the fornicator, they have an ulterior motive. The motive is to practice their homosexuality unhindered by social or moral constraints. In order to do this, all they have to do is pretend to be loving in a Christian sense. You will see these people very active in social gospels. They preach love. They care about children. They preach nurturing and tenderness. They feed the poor, they give to charities, they act sweet and helpful. But remember, their love is not God’s love. It is only a means to deceive. Just because they sincerely believe in what they are doing does not mean that their sincerity counts before God. He has given them over, because they refused to acknowledge Him as holy and their due service to Him, which is holiness. 

Why pick on the homosexual? Because this has become an issue of their own making. The church defends them. Other reasons? They make very good examples of wickedness. “Those that sin rebuke before all that others may fear.”  There is no fear of God before their eyes, so we may as well use them as examples and rebuke their wickedness so that others don’t have to become perverted and experience God’s wrath. That’s why. 

Man’s love or God’s love? Choose carefully, my friend.

- Chris Simonson