THE SEASON OF RECALL “LOVE OF GOD” IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER
The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the entire world. On top of that, another variant is said to have been detected very recently. The more confusion and division the enemy causes, the more we must learn how to discern God’s will and differentiate between ‘the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood’…
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: in this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. 1JOHN 4:7-21.
In the first section of the Epistle of the first John Chapter 4, in verses 1 to 6, John refers to three personal pronouns: You, They and We. ‘You who are from God’ are targets of the enemy but are overcomers because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ‘They who are from the world’ are our enemies because the world belongs to the devil, under whom is virtually all formal institutions and media. ‘We who are from God’ are the fearless, and therefore recognise
the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
John warns of a greater apostacy to come, which Peter, Jude and Paul also warn of. False teachers are those who deliberately teach lies in order to promote themselves and get financial gain from their followers by pleasing both them and themselves, by twisting the Word of God and by using deceptive means in order to suit their own desires.
In the second section of Chapter 4, quoted in the beginning, John deals with three foundational facts; (1) the nature of God is love, spirit and light, (2) He sent His Son because of His love, and (3) God abides in us, which means for us to remain in spiritual oneness with Him and which is only possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
If we are united to God through faith in Christ, we are to share His nature. So, our love for the brethren shows as proof of our fellowship with God and our sonship from God, as well as “we know God”, more precisely, we are in a deep relationship with Him.
“Love one another” is a commandment and its consequence is evidence of our abiding in Christ. A believer in Christ has a reverential fear of God, but not tormenting fear. In other words, according to the Greek used in v.18, there is no “fear of judgment” in love. Thus, believers can know that God’s love is being perfected in them.
The season to recall the “love of God”, the crowning attribute of God is just around the corner. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the entire world. We must realise the fact that we are witnessing Christ’s warning daily:
All these are the beginning of birth-pains…Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved (Ma.24:8-12).
According to a new survey from OnePoll (14 Nov.’21), with Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays near at hand, 58% of fully vaccinated Americans indicated that they had already broken all contact with family members and friends who refused the vaccination.
Those who say now: ‘No unvaccinated people are allowed inside our homes’, previously claimed that former President Donald Trump was a “divider”, who was spreading “hate”. But they are themselves spreading hate and divisions now, by refusing any hospitality to unvaccinated people, including their own family members, friends and neighbours.
The more confusion and division the enemy causes, the more we must learn how to discern God’s will and differentiate between
the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
The following article might be regarded as one of the warnings to believers of how to spiritually judge the speech and behaviour of influential Christian leaders.
Franklin Graham, an American Pastor who claimed that Jesus would have approved of the COVID-19 vaccine has developed pericarditis, which is an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart (pericardium). The influential Evangelical leader underwent specialized heart surgery on Monday, November 8th to treat a heart condition that had developed in recent months. Graham urged Christians to take the COVID-19 jab earlier this year stating that it would follow the example set by Jesus Christ to use modern medicine and the injections to bring healing to people. Graham pleaded with evangelical Christians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in an interview with Axios that appeared on HBO in May of this year, saying: “I want people to know that COVID-19 can kill you. But we have a vaccine out there that could possibly save your life. And if you wait, it could be too late.” He also said in an interview with ABC: “I think if there were vaccines available in the time of Christ, Jesus would have made reference to them and used them.” The timing of his hospital admission for heart problems makes it likely that it was induced by the vaccine. The Pastor was admitted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to have his pericardium (the sac around the heart) removed. The rise in pericarditis and myocarditis, two forms of heart inflammation, after COVID-19 vaccination is the primary reason that Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark suspended the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and why Taiwan suspended the second Pfizer dose for teenagers.
