TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS

TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS
Then there was the time that our church chose to stand with another church, which was being harassed and threatened by the State. Our people gave up jobs, homes, some personal liberties and privacy, as well as finances to stand with that pastor and congregation. We lived on the church premises and worked side by side with believers from that and other churches, who were making the same sacrifices. We helped build and expand facilities for the growing number of other believers joining us in our stand. We dug ditches, laid water lines and septic systems, built fences, erected buildings and tents, did kitchen patrol and guard duty. In fact, the people in our church were willing to go to jail, and even faced the possibility of having our children taken away from us by a State. Each one in our church made his/her own decision, without pressure from anyone.

The church (and their affiliates), with which we stood during those weeks of confrontation, were neither Arminian nor Wesleyan. They erroneously believed that after a person was saved that their sins would not separate them from God, and they certainly did not believe in heart purity, which produces holy living. However, when Christians are standing for truth (as much as they understand it), they draw close to God and walk in His enabling grace. When that conflict with the State was coming to an end, the pastor could not stand the pressure of our presence any longer. By the way, I was a gracious guest. I did not attack my host and his doctrines and our people chose to live in peace, rather than conflict with those errant brothers and sisters. The pressure he felt was within himself and between him and God, not with us.

He stood in a public meeting and started ranting and raving against our church and our doctrine of love and righteousness. He said he could not "TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS" any longer. In other words, he could not exercise self control and he chose not to live under Holy Spirit control. The weeks of being kind, loving, self denying had worn him out. Trying to live godly, while denying the power of godliness is draining and actually impossible. It was not long before our church vacated the property, but that is another story.

MY POINT is that people try to live the Christian life, without experiencing an entire cleansing by the Holy Spirit (deliverance from the sinful nature), which results in a form of godliness, but it is filled with frustration and failure. People can only stand the strain of the inner spiritual battle with the Old Man for a certain amount of time before they finally collapse or explode.

I see individuals who move in the right direction, but they fail to make full surrender, and therefore fall back into their old, defeated and ugly lives.
Don't TIPTOE THROUGH THE TULIPS, let Jesus set you free from sin, and you will be free indeed.

STRANGE TRUTH
To me, and I would guess to others who want deliverance from sin, this is one of the strangest verses (truths) found in the Bible.
John 3:19
(19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Yes, I understand the concept of the carnal (fallen, sinful) nature of man. I understand the idea of, "the love of the world." I can see why the unenlightened, the unsaved would reject light and cling to sin and darkness, since they are blind, and enslaved. But even though I understand these things, it still amazes me that those who have been forgiven and regenerated would choose the guilt, filthiness, death, separation, perversion that comes with the Old Man, rather than choose the purity of heart and life that comes with entire sanctification through the fullness of the Holy Spirit.