Isaiah 1:15-20 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims. Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat. But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
These are my Words. This is my message to you. It is direct, honest, even brutal – yet honest and given to you in love that you might correct yourselves and return to a real relationship with me. This is why so many of my churches, so many who purport to represent me reject the Old Testament. It is Truth openly and honestly stated as it was here in the words I gave my prophet Isaiah so many years ago, words that so many ignore and even openly preach against. Yes, I am a God of love. I am a God of forgiveness. I am a God who sacrificed himself that you might live eternally in the presence of your Father. Yet, I am also the God of these words. I am also the God of perfection and obedience and honor. You cannot choose one over the other. Both are part of a complete picture of your God. I do not limit myself to your desired version of me. Therefore, I do not allow open and blatant sin and rejection of my Truth.
Ah, my children, this is my message to you. Repent. Obey. Stop living a lie. You go to Church, you pray, you lift your hands in worship, you listen to the message given by your teachers. Then, you walk out the door and live an unrepentant life of sin. You do not obey. You do not offer your whole lives as a sacrifice of worship to me. You do not recognize the author and giver of life. You pay homage to me once a week, some of you sporadically when you read my Word or pray. Yet, your inner lives are black. Your outer deeds prove you do not truly recognize me in your life, you do not honor my presence, you do not respect me, you do not feel gratitude for all that I have given you and done for you. You open the door to your own destruction and when things are dire and you need help, you expect me to instantly save you and fix your lives. Choose your path. So far, most of you are on the broad road to eternal destruction. I will not make that choice for you. I will, however, honor whatever choice you make.
Amanuensis 