Marked for Death (revised)

The original "Marked for Death" was something I wrote back in 2003. It has gotten a lot of views but I really wasn't satisfied with it so I re-wrote it. Here it is.

I know a Veterinarian who several years ago was called out late at night to see a colicking horse. After the exam the Veterinarian determined that the horse was “twisted” and would either have to make the six hours trip to College Station for surgery or would need to be put to sleep. The old man accepted the diagnosis but surgery was not an option for him and he was not really ready to put the old horse down. He wanted some time alone to say goodbye to his old friend and told the Veterinarian he could do the euthanasia himself but didn’t know where to put the bullet. The Veterinarian got out a grease pencil used for marking cattle and put an “X” right between the horses eyes…. Put it there.

There's a horse that had a sentence of death placed upon him and had the mark on his head to prove it. We all carry or have carried the mark of death on our heads as well. The scriptures tell us that whenever we break God's Law he marks us for a death that will be carried out on the Judgment Day. There is only one way to have that mark removed and that is by substituting someone else in place of ourselves. Fortunately God has provided a substitute for us and we can be spared that sentence of eternal death. However, the gift is a conditional gift, it requires us to quit breaking God's Laws and to live lives that mimic Jesus' life on earth.

The first consequence of sin is that we die and are punished eternally. Sin does something else to us. Sin steals meaningful lives from us here on earth. Sin shapes us into something ugly...righteousness shapes us into something beautiful.

When we lie...we become liars and that takes away our trustworthiness.

When we have sex outside the marriage relationship it ruins the beauty and trust of a committed relationship.

When our priorities are wealth and pleasure our lives have no depth to them...we are behaving selfishly.

Even if we live basically good lives here on earth, if we don't assemble with other Christians we are neglecting our responsibilities to them and to God. God's Word does not teach solitary Christianity.

The second consequence of sin is it ruins our lives on earth.

Don't allow yourselves to be shaped by sin and miss out on what this life has to offer and what God offers us in eternity. All those people not following Jesus Christ are like that old horse with an “X” on his forehead just waiting for the day when God places the bullet that condemns them to eternal punishment. Have faith in Jesus Christ and have that mark removed.

Marked For Death

I knew a Veterinarian who was called out late one night to examine a sick horse. Upon completion of the exam the Vet told the owner that he would not be able to save the horse and recommended euthanasia. The old man accepted the diagnosis but wasn't quite ready to put the horse "down" yet ha wanted to spend some time with the old horse. He told the Vet he could euthanize the horse himself but did not know where to put the bullet. The Vet obliged by taking a grease pencil and marking an "X" right between the horses eyes. There's a horse that had a sentence of death placed upon him and had the mark on his head to prove it. We all carry or have carried the mark of death on our heads as well. The scriptures tell us that whenever we break God's Law he marks us for a death that will be carried out on the Judgment Day. There is only one way to have that mark removed and that is by substituting someone else in place of ourselves. Fortunately God has provided a substitute for us and we can be spared that sentence of eternal death. However, the gift is a conditional gift, it requires us to quit breaking God's Laws and live lives that mimic Jesus' life on earth. The first consequence of sin is that we die and are punished eternally. Sin does something else to us. Sin steals meaningful lives from us here on earth. Sin shapes into something ugly...righteousness shapes us into something beautiful. When we lie...we become liars and that takes away our trustworthiness. When we have sex outside the marriage relationship it ruins the beauty and trust of a committed relationship. When our priorities are wealth and pleasure our lives have no depth to them...we are behaving selfishly. Even if we live basically good lives here on earth, if we don't assemble with other Christians we are neglecting our responsibilities to them and to God. God's Word does not teach solitary Christianity. The second consequence of sin is it ruins our lives on earth. Don't allow yourselves to be shaped by sin and miss out on what this life has to offer and what God offers us in eternity.

Build Some Hope

I know who a fellow who had a pretty good life. He’s a very likeable person with a very engaging personality and excellent communication skills. As far as intelligence goes… he’s smarter than most. When you couple those attributes together he had the ingredients needed to build a pretty good life and he did… but over the course of time it slowly began to unravel. He started making bad choices including rejecting the Lord and engaging in activities that were not consistent with God’s word. His life started deteriorating until he had almost nothing left. Along the way I (and others) would offer advice which was largely ignored. I never wanted to do more than give advice because his attitude was that his problems were mostly other people’s fault. Plus, his solution to problems was anger and physical violence. So I couldn’t really see doing much more for him than offering advice and I had lost hope for him. Then a day dawned when I was in his company and I saw something new and unexpected… he started accepting responsibility for the things that had gone wrong in his life. And he realized that responding to problems with physical violence had just served to get him into more trouble. It was at that point that I decided to do more than help with just advice. Slowly his life has turned in the opposite direction. He has started going to church and has begun to take the steps necessary to rebuild his life. And along the way something surprising happened. He told me that he had dug himself into such a deep hole that he couldn’t see any way out of it and he had lost all confidence in his abilities but when I offered to help him his confidence started growing because someone believed in him and he hung on to that small sliver of hope and picked himself up and climbed out of that hole. You see… I’m a guy who believes if you’ve got a problem… make some correction… get with it. I had not realized that mentally you could despair so much that it would be almost impossible to help yourself and how a small thing like expressing confidence in someone could mean… so much. I had always had confidence in him… he just didn’t know it. Thanks you Lord for helping someone I love and for opening my eyes.

Hebrews 6 and the Prodigal Son

“For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God and the miracles of the coming age, and then have committed apostasy, to renew them again to repentance, since they are crucifying the Son of God for themselves all over again and holding him up to contempt.” (Hebrews 6)

This text is somewhat troubling… the idea that if someone falls away from the faith that he cannot return, i.e. he is eternally lost. I guess it’s troubling because we have all known those who have rejected Christ but have in some point in the future come back. What exactly is their condition with God? I think the parable of the “Prodigal Son” helps explain these verses. Remember that the son was raised to adulthood but rebelled against his father and went to a far off land where he lived a wild life… alcohol, women, etc. totally rejecting the teachings of his father. Note that the father did not travel to that far off land and yank his son by the ear back home. Why? because it would do no good. The son had to realize and experience the consequences of his actions and come home on his own free will. Similarly, those who have known Christ and rejected him cannot be drug back to the Lord. It won’t do a bit of good to re-explain and hammer on them about what Christ has done for us. They already know that. They too must realize the consequences of their decisions and come back on their own. And like the father who rejoiced at the return of his son, so too Jesus Christ rejoices at the return of his sons and daughters.

Satan = Weak

Satan had it going pretty good up until about the time Jesus was baptized and received the Holy Spirit. Satan had plenty of Demons and they could live in anybody they wanted to with few restrictions. Satan had turned one of the 12 disciples (Judas) who would do whatever Satan wanted and Satan had received permission to test Peter who failed the test and denied Jesus three times.

Satan did have a setback in his failure to induce Jesus to sin and his demons were starting to be exorcised. But he did have Judas in his pocket and was about to chop Peter’s legs out from under him hoping to destroy him with depression and inaction after his failure.

Satan also was in control of the Chief Priest and the Jewish rulers and even though he hadn’t been able to tempt Jesus he was going to have the son of God… killed. So, all-in-all, Satan must have been pretty happy with himself. Little did he know that he was playing right into God’s hands and in killing Jesus allowed God to restore life to Jesus and hope to humanity and to limit Satan’s powers and effectiveness by the giving of His Holy Spirit to those who believed.

Don’t be afraid of Satan we have God. Thank you God for what you did.