Human Imperfection, Teboho Kibe [read a book .txt] 📗

God makes all his works cooperate together for the good of those who love God, those who are the ones called according to his purpose; because those whom he gave his first recognition he also foreordained to be patterned after the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover, those whom he foreordained are the ones he also called; and those whom he called are the ones he also declared to be righteous.”—Rom. 8:28-30.

When man rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, God was concerned about the government for a new system of things over mankind. Therefore he gave “first recognition” to this governmental class and expressed it when he pronounced sentence against “the original serpent,” Satan the Devil, saying: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.”—Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12:9.

Jesus Christ is the principal one mentioned in this prophecy, but his 144,000 associates are also associated with him in the bruising of the Serpent’s head, as the apostle Paul indicated when he wrote to fellow Christians: “The God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.”—Rom. 16:20.

ARE THE ASSOCIATE RULERS TRUSTWORTHY?

As to being able to trust the associate rulers of Christ, note this comforting statement: “Those whom he gave his first recognition he also foreordained to be patterned after the image of his Son.” (Rom. 8:29) This assures that they will be righteous, trustworthy rulers, even as the Son is. While on earth they make over their personalities by the help of God’s holy spirit. (Eph. 4:22-24) As brothers of Christ, they are not divided among themselves when on earth, and when he resurrects them to the heavens Jehovah will make them righteous as perfect spirit persons in harmony with their righteous personality.—1 Cor. 1:10.

Jesus revealed the principle by which his associate rulers will operate when he corrected a wrong spirit in his apostles, saying: “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those having authority over them are called Benefactors. You, though, are not to be that way. But let him that is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the one acting as chief as the one ministering. For which one is greater, the one reclining at the table or the one ministering? Is it not the one reclining at the table? But I am in your midst as the one ministering.”—Luke 22:24-27.

These associates, while on earth, have received their training for rulership by serving as ambassadors for God’s kingdom to the people. They follow their Leader, Christ, who served as direct Ambassador from God to the people. He came to earth, not with a political mission, but to do what no political ruler can do or has done, namely, to reconcile people of all nations to God, to bring them back into peaceful, friendly relations with the great Life-Giver, Jehovah.—Rom. 5:8-11.

Doing the same work as Christ did, these associate rulers can say: “We are therefore ambassadors substituting for Christ, as though God were making entreaty through us. As substitutes for Christ we beg: ‘Become reconciled to God.’”—2 Cor. 5:20.

A NONPOLITICAL WORK TODAY

As such ambassadors they do not go to the political nations, trying to bring about the reconciliation of a whole nation at once, neither do they meddle in political affairs. Rather, they go directly to the people—to individuals. But they do not try to turn individuals toward any earthly ruler, or seek to win them over to any political ideology. They confess: “Our citizenship exists in the heavens, from which place also we are eagerly waiting for a saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 3:20) They appeal to people to look to the kingdom of God for relief. Accordingly, if they should get involved in the affairs of this world, taking part in political activities, holding office or voting, they would lose their status as ambassadors and brothers of Christ, and would never attain to heavenly rulership with him.

Today we see nationalism growing in all countries. More and more is pressure exerted upon people to render worship to the “wild beast,” this world’s human political organization under the influence and control of Satan the Devil. (Rev. 13:1, 2, 11, 12) But the Kingdom ambassadors and prospective rulers with Christ do not worship this “wild beast,” knowing that it will soon be destroyed, cleared out of the way, so that the Kingdom can have full sway over earth for a thousand years. (Rev. 19:19-21; Dan. 2:44) Still, they respect the governments of earth as long as God allows these governments to remain. This is because they respect the responsible positions the rulers hold and the power and opportunity they have to do good toward their subjects.

These “ambassadors” therefore follow God’s command at Romans 13:1-7 to show “subjection to the superior authorities” of this world, paying their taxes and obeying the laws of the nations. Only when the rulers go so far as to make or execute laws that clash with the laws and rulings of the Most High God do these Christians refuse obedience. This they do on the principle and after the pattern set by the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ when before the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. When told to stop preaching the good news of the Kingdom, thereby forsaking their God-ordained ambassadorship, they replied: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”—Acts 5:29.

The 144,000 faithful ones will therefore carry none of the political uncleanness of this self-seeking world into the heavenly kingdom of the Christ. They have undergone severe trials and testings on earth and have stood firm for God’s sovereignty and for his kingdom, preaching its coming blessings to the people. Of them, it is stated: “These are the ones that did not defile themselves with women; in fact, they are virgins.” (Rev. 14:4) Yes, they are faithful to Christ, not adulteresses, as some were warned by the disciple James: “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.”—Jas. 4:4.

Also of these associate rulers, it is stated: “No falsehood was found in their mouths; they are without blemish.” (Rev. 14:5) Today falsehood is almost considered “stock in trade” for political rulers. This has brought about much corruption and has ruined their credibility among the people. But Christ’s associate rulers cannot follow this pattern and be approved by Christ. They are proved truth-tellers. All these statements about them, inspired by God himself, give absolute assurance that they are not interested in their own aggrandizement and glory (in fact, as heavenly rulers they could desire no material thing from their subjects), but are concerned with the people’s interests and everlasting welfare.

Individuals who want life as subjects of that righteous kingdom, on hearing what these “ambassadors” of God say, must do more than give mere mental assent, merely waiting for the Kingdom to crush this world’s system of things. Action motivated by the heart is required. All who believe that God will provide mankind with rulers for the people’s interests must support the work of these “ambassadors” by sharing with others the good news of the Kingdom. It is a lifesaving activity that no sincere believer in God can shun.

Okay friends, now we are swift again, now lets move on to talking about human imperfection and pornography. Greedy money lovers, and those who have “gone out after flesh for unnatural use,” have flooded the world with highly contagious material in movies, videos, plays, books, magazines, and music—a plague of pornography. (Jude 7) Thus the U.S. Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, in visits to just 16 stores, was able to catalogue “2,325 separate magazine titles, 725 books, and 2,370 film titles” of pornographic matter.

With little thought as to the havoc they create in the lives of others, these “pornocrats” callously lower the moral climate of society and contribute to the epidemics of fornication, adultery, incest, sexually transmitted diseases, perversions, divorces, broken homes, disturbed children, and physically and psychologically damaged marriage mates.

Can you protect your family from this plague? If you have become addicted to porn, is there any way to break free? The answer to both questions is yes! How?

Porn problems thrive in an environment of infectious wrong attitudes where there exists little resistance to “the works of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:19) Such problems flourish when people lack or ignore accurate knowledge and allow wrong information to pollute the mind. Our best defense against porn, then, is to build spirituality and individual immunity by cultivating healthy attitudes based on sound knowledge. To do this requires that we uncompromisingly embrace, as antidotes to porn, the following Bible viewpoints.

Right Attitude Toward Sex

The first prevalent wrong attitude to resist is that toward sex itself. Jehovah God created the male and the female with sexual desire for the purpose of procreation, as well as to bring them pleasure as a married couple. (Genesis 1:27, 28; 2:18; Matthew 19:4-6) Thus if sexual relations are viewed as a means of mutual expression of love by marriage mates and not as a means of exploiting others or merely for the gratifying of self, it will help us to resist pornography.—1 Corinthians 7:3; Acts 20:35.

To abuse sex dishonors its Designer and brings harm to the abuser. Hunger for food is also designed by God for our good and pleasure. But if abused by excesses or by ingesting polluted food, harm can result. Therefore, do not become greedy—idolizing sex. Rather, control “your body members . . . as respects . . . sexual appetite, hurtful desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”—Colossians 3:5, 6; Ephesians 5:5.

When ancient cultures idolized sex, they “exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created.” That led to “disgraceful sexual appetites,” excesses that polluted them. Thus, “both their females changed the natural use of themselves into one contrary to nature; and likewise even the males left the natural use of the female.”—Romans 1:25-27.

Right Attitude Toward Women

Many pornographic presentations nowadays are of women subjected to rape, degradation, and violence. So your family must see pornography as a vicious attack upon womankind. Porn conveys the seductive idea that females are meant to be and even want to be thus maltreated—that they actually experience pleasure when raped and otherwise hurt. That is a base lie.

No decent male can have such an attitude toward women. God made both male and female. The woman was to be man’s complement, not his inferior deserving of ill-treatment. (Genesis 2:18) Rather than maltreat the body of any woman, the Bible tells men to deal with “older women as mothers, younger women as sisters with all chasteness.” (1 Timothy 5:2) And instead of subjecting wives to the perversions that porn advocates, “husbands ought to be loving their wives as their own bodies.”—Ephesians 5:28, 29.

Right Attitude Toward Children

Annually, children by the thousands—often just tots—are sexually abused, some by their neighbors and family friends, others by incestuous practices of their own parents and other family members. Porn plays a big part in suggesting that this abuse is acceptable. Thousands more are kidnapped, raped, and prostituted by sexually depraved pornographers. What an unfeeling betrayal of innocent, defenseless children!

“Sons are an inheritance from Jehovah,” the Bible says. (Psalm 127:3) Your family members need to respect that inheritance and its Source and not entertain unwholesome attitudes toward the young in their own or other families. Sexual abuse of minors does physical and emotional damage and corrupts. It is a cruel lie to say that children are benefited by such abuse.

Hence, pornography is based upon God-dishonoring lies, wicked misrepresentations as to sex, women, and children. The sickening fruitage from propagating the lies tells us who the father of such lies must be. (John 8:44) In view of this, genuine Christians who wish to maintain a clean relationship with their heavenly Father cannot