For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:23

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 3:10

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Jeremiah 17:9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

Isaiah 55:8

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10

There has only been one individual in human flesh that was sinless, spotless, blameless — Jesus Christ the Lord. He Who is fully truly God and was fully truly a man.

The rest of us? Wicked, unrighteous sinners deserving nothing more than the wrath of God for our rebellion and sin. Our selfishness and love of the world.

Save for our salvation, our hope, our way out of being darkness and in darkness. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a changed heart and mind from within by the working of the Holy Spirit.

God has put certain individuals in place throughout history who have made the right choices for God’s plan to take place.

Some of these folks have been downright wicked and evil.

Others found righteous in the sight of God.

It’s all for God’s purpose. His plan. His way. Not ours.

And before you get into the rut, that deep and off from Scripture rut that then we’re all just puppets and pawns and what we do doesn’t matter because God is controlling us like a puppet perhaps it would behoove anyone believing that ought to pick up a Bible and so some serious reading, studying, and meditating upon what is read — think deeply about what God’s Word says, ponder, contemplate, and prayer about it.

We’re all sinners. Deserving nothing more than to be put in the fiery pit with Satan and all his fallen angels —were it not for our faith, our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as a part of the Trinitarian God. If not for our belief, our faith in all that is in God’s Word — even if and when we don’t understand it all.

Confess sin. Repent of sin. Allow the Holy Spirit to change from within, the heart, the mind, the entire life. Born anew. To serve the Lord. To glorify the Lord.

Every day.

Always.

And what happens on this earth with the nature by which societies and cultures exist, the madness, the wickedness of the people of the world cannot allow for them to pause long enough in their perpetual quest to hear the voice of the Lord. To slow down, you move too fast, you’ve got to make this awareness, that each morning God blesses with life, eternal life…last…

…knowing though we may not understand in our very limited way God knows all, God is not limited, God does not need to learn, God does not err or think or act as we do.

We need to humble ourselves and repent for lowering God to our level and we need to know, accept, and believe that some, many extraordinary sinners, downright awful folks have been put here at the time they have been to be used for God’s purpose even though they may never be saved, never know the light, the way, the truth and have the life afforded by such knowledge.

Sinners. So many aren’t there?

Including me, including you. Hopefully, you have come to know the Lord and repented, sought the Lord upon hearing His calling, “Come, come, come…” and have experienced the eternally life-changing renewing of mind and spirit to now serve the Lord, sinner…

Ken Pullen, Tuesday, March 12th, 2024

God Uses Sinful People, But . . .

March 11, 2024

By Michael Brown

Reprinted from ASKDRBrown

When you look back through history, both secular and spiritual, ancient and contemporary, it is clear that God uses sinful people to accomplish His purposes – not just weak people, but sinful people.

But this does not mean that God always approves of those who He uses.

And it does not mean that there are not consequences to our sins. Sin is still deadly.

In the same way, God uses wounded people to accomplish His purposes, including wounded Christian leaders. But if those wounds are not properly healed, it is likely that those wounded leaders will themselves wound others.

In the Bible, there is probably no greater example of this than Samson, a man called to be a Nazarite (meaning, specially separated to the Lord) before he was conceived in the womb.

 As the angel of the Lord said to his mother,

“You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines” (Judges 13:3-5; see also Numbers 6).

Samson, for his part, is best known for two things:

1. The supernatural strength God gave him, enabling him to accomplish powerful exploits against Israel’s enemies, the Philistines; and
2. His lack of self-control, because of which he ended up having sex with Philistine women and even marrying a Philistine woman. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!

And so, even though God used him to kill many Philistines, his folly cost him his freedom, his eyes (literally), his reputation, and ultimately, his life. His last words, spoken as he pulled down a Philistine temple filled with thousands of people who had come to mock him, were: “Let me die with the Philistines!” (Judges 16:30)

Still Samson, despite his sins and weaknesses, is listed as a hero of faith in Hebrews 11, among those

“who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” (Hebrews 11:33-34).

So, God did use Samson, and the gifts the Lord gave him were his for life, despite his sin, unless he violated his Nazarite oath. That’s why, in Judges 16, after sleeping with a Philistine prostitute, which was about as low as you could go as the national leader of Israel, he got up in the middle of the night and

“took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron” (Judges 16:3). 

This is as remarkable as it is terrifying.

Just because a spiritual gift operates in someone doesn’t mean they are right with God.

Just because God uses a person doesn’t mean He is pleased with them or sanctions them.

In the end, Samson’s folly caught up with him and he paid a severe price for his sins. This hurt the nation as well, since he was called to be their deliverer.

Yet the Lord still called Samson from his mother’s womb and the Lord still gifted him, even though He knew full well that Samson would fall repeatedly. The Lord also saw something positive in Samson’s heart, recognizing him in Hebrews 11 as one of the heroes of faith.

In the same way, God used Martin Luther to spark the Protestant Reformation, which has literally affected the entire world. For Protestants, Luther is one of the giants, a fearless pioneer with a backbone of steel, a man who would not bow, a man with incredible spiritual insight.

For Catholic apologists, Luther is a madman, a clear proof that Protestants are in error.

To quote Luther’s writings against the German peasants,

“Like the mules who will not move unless you perpetually whip them with rods, so the civil powers must drive the common people, whip, choke, hang, burn, behead and torture them, that they may learn to fear the powers that be.”

And,

“A peasant is a hog, for when a hog is slaughtered it is dead, and in the same way the peasant does not think about the next life, for otherwise he would behave very differently.”

For Jews, Luther is the one who wrote that Jewish synagogues should be set on fire and their places of business broken down and destroyed, that rabbis should be forbidden to teach under penalty of death, that passport and travel privileges should be revoked, that Jews should be deprived of good jobs and herded together like Gypsies.

That’s why the Nazis reprinted his writings with glee and why Hitler thought Luther was a genius.

Yet God not only used Luther to bring about powerful and needed reformation in the Church (many Catholics would also agree that there were some things that needed to change back then), but his writings have continued to change lives over the centuries. Both John and Charles Wesley were deeply impacted by Luther’s commentaries on Romans and Galatians, which played a key role to their own spiritual transformation.

So, Luther was used by God, but his weaknesses and sins caused much pain for many.

What is the takeaway for us?

First, let’s not be overly impressed with people. We can honor leaders for their service, but let’s save our high praises for the Lord Himself.

Second, just because someone is gifted or anointed or used by the Lord doesn’t mean they are saintly or holy. We should judge the tree by its fruit, which includes moral conduct.

Third, for all of us, especially those in leadership and ministry, let’s be quick to repent, let’s do our best to acknowledge our weaknesses and wounds and find healing and strength in the Lord, and let’s walk in humility and the fear of the Lord.

In the long run, this will determine whether we do more harm than good or more good than harm.