Pulling Out the Poisoned Arrows of Sin
Andrea Mantegna 1506
A.D.
As a young man I lived in America, the Middle
East, India and Israel. In all the lands I visited, I wanted to know how the
different religions dealt with the problem of sin. I had been raised as a
Catholic and was keenly aware of my sins. I knew that my sins would effect my
destiny and that on the judgment Day I would have to give an account for them.
Catholics
The Catholics have an inefficient method of removing sins
called the Sacrament of Confession. The sinner goes into a dark, private booth
and confesses his sins to a priest who cannot see him. The priest then has the
power to forgive, or not forgive the sins. If he forgives them, he gives the
sinner a penance to do. Usually the sinner is told to say 10 repetitive prayers.
The reason I say it is inefficient, or inadequate, is that often you have to
wait many days before you can get to the priest to confess your sins. Plus my
sins kept returning to me almost within hours of having them removed. So I would
often go several days worried that if I died before I could go to confession, I
would go straight to hell. And I often wondered why I couldn't just ask Yah
directly to forgive me. Why did I need an intermediary?
Israel
When I lived in Israel I learned that Moses had designed a way
for sins to be removed by sacrificing animals . But their scriptures said the
animals had to be offered on the altar in Jerusalem to be accepted. The problem
is that even when the animals were sacrificed it didn't remove their sins, but
only covered them temporarily. Every year they had to repeat the rituals, but
the sins never left them. To compound the problem there hasn't been an altar in
Jerusalem for 2,000 years.
India
When I lived in India I saw a never ending festival of
sacrificing to thousands of gods and idols in an attempt to remove sins. Usually
the sacrifices were fruit and flowers and incense, or small animals. There seems
to be no way to know if any sins were removed. Some sects like the Buddhists
denied that sins existed. Others said sin was just an illusion of our ignorance.
I knew my sins were not illusions.
Muslims
The saddest group of people I saw were the Muslims. They had
no way to remove their sins, but lived in constant fear of the Judgment Day.
Even if they made the pilgrimage to Mecca and sacrificed the hairiest camel,
there was nothing in their holy book that offered any assurance of the removal
of sins. Even by performing good deeds they have only a vague hope. When the
Judgment Day comes their forgiveness all depends on the whim of Allah. Many
believe that if they miss rising before dawn to say their morning prayers they
will have to spend thousands of years in a purgatory, a hell-like place of
torment, before they can enter paradise. Their only real hope of gaining
paradise and having their sins forgiven is to die fighting in a holy war for the
cause of Allah. No wonder they have so many suicide bombers willing to kill
themselves in Jihad. Yah is all about love, mercy and forgiveness, so killing
others is the farthest thing in my mind to have your sins removed.
The Search
I read every Holy Book I could find. I visited many sects and
cults, old and new. But I kept circling back to Christianity. I didn't
understand it, but I kept hearing phrases like Yahshuah died for my sins.
Yahshuah paid the price. Yah loved me so much that he gave Yahshuah to take care
of my sin problem.
The New Covenant
At the Last Supper Jesus
held up a cup and said this cup is
"my blood of the New Covenant, which
is poured out for many for the remission of sins. (Mt.26:27 )
The New Covenant had been prophecied centuries before
Yahshuah. God said he would give humans a new way to be cleansed of all
guilt, all troubling and hounding consciences, and all punishment for
sins. Once we unite with Yahshuah by faith we enter the New Covenant
and God stops counting our sins, he dissolves are evil deeds that we may yet do
with mercy and wll bring us to him blameless.
God made a
promise and swore an oath that he would greet us without wrath or
rebuking, but with mercy and deliberately forget our evil deeds. Being
righteous or unrighteousness plays no role in this, it is a gift
because of God's mercy, love and Grace, and Yahshuah's faithfulness
It is for
everyone. How happy are those who believe it now. They are freed from the fear
of death, they are freed from damning consciences, they are freed from trying to
live up to the standard of sinless perfection, now there is no condemnation now,
or ever. This free gift can never be rescinded and those who by faith unite with
Jesus and accept it have passed from death to life and in the age to come
with live in the father's love forever.
Question: So if Yah will
not count my sins, does that mean I am allowed to sin?
Answer: Only if you want to be sick and
miserable and chastised constantly by Father. Your sins will not affect your
destination, but they will ruin your voyage. Yahshuah said “Sin No More” because
he wants you to have a joyful life. Sin hurts you and everyone around you.
If You Do Sin
- Repent
- If you forgive others the Father will forgive
your sins. If you do not forgive others their sins, the Father
cannot forgive you your sins (Mt 6:14)
- Much love forgives many sins (Lk.7:47) )
- Ask Father to forgive your sins. This way
you can live a life of wholeness, peace and joy now as you wait
patiently for the eternal life in the world to
come.
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