Hypocrites: The Pharisee's Still Live Today
"Hypocrites"
by Dr. James W. Blanchard PhD.
Learning the fundamentals is crucial for any kind of activity. In sports such as basketball, the fundamentals are taught to very young children. When they mature they have an opportunity to become excellent athletes. If the fundamentals are wrong, it is impossible to develop excellence at any latter stage of their lives. For example, if a child learns to dribble a basketball with both hands at the same time and then carry it three steps before beginning to dribble again, that child would never have an opportunity to become a player. In the Christian world we have many people who sadly have a major fundamental thing wrong with their theology and their concept of Christianity.
Im not talking about the wide variety of theological differences that separate denominations. Im referring to the basic concept of Christianity, the will of God, and the means by which redemption is obtained. A fundamental error is so widespread that it seems to permeate virtually every denominational group throughout all Christendom and has weakened the churchs ability to combat the forces of darkness in this lost and dying world.
Sin has a basic root. It has a fundamental aspect to it. Romans 3:23 declares all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's not two statements. It is one statement followed by a definition. I could say, everyone has become famished, and felt so very hungry they were overwhelmed by their desire to eat. The second half of that sentence gives a definition of the first half of the sentence. What does it mean to be famished? It means to feel so hungry you are overwhelmed with the desire to eat. Applying that to Romans 3:23; what does it mean to sin? It means to come short of the glory of God.
Any time an individual does something that comes short of what God would do in that same situation, that action is a sin. I am sinning right now as I write these words. Even though I am seeking to write under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I know for a fact that if God Himself were typing these words, He would do a much better job at explaining this to you than I am doing. Since the Lord could do it better, then I am sinning by coming short of His perfection. In the area of sin, a miss is as good as a mile. Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons; not with God.
Imagine you were playing golf with God. You step up to the tee and make a mighty swing, hitting the ball perfectly down the fairway. Next it's Gods turn. He steps up and takes His swing. He hits the ball from the tee to the green and into the cup. You see, when playing 18 holes, God always shoots 18. He never misses. Every time He swings, it's a hole in one. He also bowls 300. Every roll of the ball is a strike. You can't compete with that! You can't perform on that level. You can't be like God! To think so is to believe a fundamental lie that has been responsible for the destruction of man from the beginning of time.
The lie that you can be like God, can be traced back to the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God placed the man in the Garden and gave him instructions. He said, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) Some people interpret that statement as meaning, if you eat of that tree I will surely kill you. Nothing could be further from the truth! We tell our children, You can cross the road, but don't step out in front of an semi-truck going 70 miles an hour or you will become a wet spot on the pavement. That statement is intended to protect them. It is informational. It isn't a threat. It is a commandment only in the sense that we want our children to trust what we say so that they will be safe and well. We want them to believe our words in order for them to avoid self destruction.
When facing the serpent in the Garden, Eve said in Genesis 3:3 "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Where the words neither shall ye touch it came from, we do not know. We only know that they were not included in Gods original instructions to Adam. God told Adam "......thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17) Adam may have added "neither shall ye touch it" when he repeated God's instructions in order to emphasize to Eve the importance of staying away from the tree. In any case, when you add to or take away from the truth, the truth becomes a lie and Satan has an opportunity to use that lie against you and others that believe it.
Given the opening afforded Him, the devil said "......... unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (5) For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5) He essentially told her, God is a liar. If you eat the fruit, you can become like God, being able to distinguish between good and evil. That statement from the devil to Eve contains the fundamental lie that he has used against mankind throughout the generations. It contains a partial truth, laced with a deception. For example, I can tell you that you can be like me if, when you are young, you spend a lot of time in the sun without any protection or sunscreen. Yes, you too can have skin cancer! But who wants that? God had originally created Adam and Eve in His own image, in every good way that He wanted them to be like Him. They were like little children, with no concept of
good or evil. Knowing good and evil doesn't make you like God in any good way. It robs you of innocence, brings forth guilt, shame and fear, and eventually breeds pride and a judgmental attitude!
Genesis 3:6 goes on to tells us "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." There is only one way that she could have seen that the tree was good for food. The serpent must have eaten from it. God hadn't said that the serpent would die if it ate of the fruit. The devil was fully aware of that fact. Eve on the other hand was naive and apparently a little gullible. Next Genesis 3:6 says "she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes." That would seem to indicate that she examined it, probably touched it, most likely held it, and discovered that nothing of any negative consequence resulted from her examination. Those few added words, neither shall ye touch it, had devastating consequences. She began to doubt God. What this whole story boils down to, rests in how you interpret what took place here. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, were they being disobedient to God's command, or were they demonstrating a lack of faith in God's Word?
If someone is being disobedient, they can correct for disobedience by becoming obedient. On the other hand if someone is demonstrating a lack of faith, i.e.. unbelief, they can correct for their lack of faith by becoming faithful, i.e.. by believing. So, I ask you, in church after church and denomination after denomination, throughout the whole world, what is the fundamental message that is declared? Unfortunately that message is far too often that: "Disobedience is what God hates. Disobedience is sin. If you become obedient, God will love and accept you. You can become like God, distinguishing between good and evil, and choosing to be obedient by doing that which is good." They say that: "Doing good works is God's will for your life. That alone is pleasing in His sight. You need to do those things that we say are right and not do those things that we have determined are wrong. Keep these laws and God will love you and you'll have an express trip straight to heaven when you die." Sadly that message is a lie, right from
the devil. It's the same lie the serpent told to Adam and Eve. It comes right from the bowels of hell. Believing that you can become like God by knowing the difference between good and evil and choosing to do the good is a Satanic deception that will most certainly cause those who believe it to be ultimately cast into the lake of fire. It is a fundamental error.
God told Adam that if he ate of the tree in the midst of the garden, he would die. The serpent told Eve, you will not die. Answer this question. WHOM DID EVE BELIEVE? Undoubtedly she believed the devil. Genesis 3:6 says Eve gave the fruit to Adam and he did eat. Adam knew that God had said, if you eat it you will die. Yet, WHOM DID ADAM BELIEVE? Obviously he believed Eve, his wife. God clearly identifies the underlying reason for the fall when He says to Adam in Genesis 3:17 that it was all because Adam had hearkened unto the voice of his wife. Neither one of them had believed God.
The only way to correct for not believing God, is to do the opposite and believe God. That is why God chose faith as the means by which redemption would come. Without understanding that fundamental truth, faith makes no sense at all. Why must we believe? Believing as a means of obtaining and maintaining redemption seems foolish! 1 Corinthians 1:27 declares ".....God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise......." The truth is actually very simple. Because not believing was responsible for the fall, believing is the means by which you can be restored. For Adam and Eve in the garden believing God meant believing that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring death. In this current day and age believing God begins with believing
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and He is Lord!
Once sin is a part of your life, separation from God is the result. The remedy for that separation is what must be fundamentally correct. According to Adam and Eve, once they had eaten of the fruit, the only remedy they saw for their sin was to cover themselves up. Genesis 3:7 says "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." They recognized they were sinners, they had eaten of the fruit, and they had not believed God. Eve had believed the devil and Adam had believed his wife. Then they tried to fix their problem by using the works of their hands to cover up what they perceived to be the visible result of their sin: their nakedness. On the inside they were still filled with fear, but on the outside they were looking good at least in their own eyes. They were wearing the works of their hands; the aprons that covered their nakedness. God on the other hand presented them with an entirely different plan for dealing with their sin. Genesis
3:21 says "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." The aprons that they had made to atone for their sin, were insufficient in the eyes of God. He made them coats of skins instead.
Answer this question. What must happen in order for an animal to give up its skin? Yes! It has to die. God demonstrated death to Adam and Eve. He showed them the very first sacrifice. They had played with that little lamb in the garden. Adam had named it. Now it was lying on the ground, quivering, with its lifes' blood pouring out. The lamb died so that their sin could be covered. The lamb died in their place. God introduced them to the Gospel of Christ by teaching them that: for sin comes death, but the death of a substitute is an acceptable alternative as long as the substitute is of sufficient value to cover the sin. This initiated the whole sacrificial system. Adam and Eve apparently taught the concept of the sacrifice to their children. Genesis 4:3-4 tells us that "...in process of time it
came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. (4) And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:" Once again we see the contrast between believing God and believing the lie of the Satan in the offerings brought to the Lord by Cain and Able. God had presented them with the means by which they could come to him. It was by recognizing that, for sin comes death. They deserved to die, but the lamb could die in their place. Abel obviously believed God as he brought a lamb to sacrifice. Cain on the other hand brought to the Lord the best vegetables from his garden. He had worked hard to bring his very best to the Lord, but his very best was not enough. Abel hadn't produced that lamb. He hadn't done anything to make it. God was not giving any kind of preference to Abel. He was completely willing to accept an offering from Cain. The offering however, had to be the only acceptable offering the Lord was willing to receive at the time: the blood of the lamb. John 1:29 declares that ".....John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." All the sacrificial lambs that had died before, from the ones that provided the coats for Adam and Eve, to the one offered by Abel, to the ones that died in the passover and beyond, were all pointing to a future sacrificial lamb; the true lamb: the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. His blood was more than just a covering for sin. His blood was capable of completely washing sin away.
Whenever I ask someone about their relationship with God I get very similar answers. "I haven"t been too bad throughout my life. I always try to do the right thing. I've never hurt anyone," etc. God will not accept that kind of offering. It involves your ability to know good and evil, and your ability to choose good. It involves you doing your very best and believing that your puny efforts will somehow be sufficient to please Him. It is the devils deception and the very attitude that Jesus condemned in the Pharisees, the most religious people of the day. If you approach God based on your ability to know good and evil, and do that which is right, you will be rejected and ultimately cast out.
Only by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31) can anyone be saved. Isaiah 64:6 declares ".......all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags......" and Romans 3:10-12 clearly tells us ".......There is none righteous, no, not one: (11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." By receiving Jesus Christ (John 1:12), by confessing Him with your mouth and believing in your heart that He is raised from the dead (Romans 10:9), you literally put on Christ. You wear Jesus Christ in the same way Adam and Eve wore the coats of skins. He alone is the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world. He is the only means provided for your redemption. Faith is the only method by which you can come to God. Certainly God wants you to be righteous. He wants you to do good works. But none of us are capable of doing anything good. The only good that ever comes from us is the good that the Spirit of God does through us. When we receive Christ as Savior, the Spirit of God comes to live within us.
He conforms us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) and we will undoubtedly begin to do that which is good. What we must never forget is that the only good that we then do, is the good that God is doing through us and therefore we do not deserve any credit for it. It is His good works, not ours. Turn away from your own self righteousness. Quit believing the lie of the serpent. Understand that you can't be like God! Stop offering your best to God, and start receiving His best for you. Pray and ask God to forgive you based upon the sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Ask Him to come into your life and forgive your sins. The ears of God are always open to accept the offering of the blood of the Lamb. That, brothers and sisters, is fundamentally right!
by Dr. James W. Blanchard PhD.
Learning the fundamentals is crucial for any kind of activity. In sports such as basketball, the fundamentals are taught to very young children. When they mature they have an opportunity to become excellent athletes. If the fundamentals are wrong, it is impossible to develop excellence at any latter stage of their lives. For example, if a child learns to dribble a basketball with both hands at the same time and then carry it three steps before beginning to dribble again, that child would never have an opportunity to become a player. In the Christian world we have many people who sadly have a major fundamental thing wrong with their theology and their concept of Christianity.
Im not talking about the wide variety of theological differences that separate denominations. Im referring to the basic concept of Christianity, the will of God, and the means by which redemption is obtained. A fundamental error is so widespread that it seems to permeate virtually every denominational group throughout all Christendom and has weakened the churchs ability to combat the forces of darkness in this lost and dying world.
Sin has a basic root. It has a fundamental aspect to it. Romans 3:23 declares all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's not two statements. It is one statement followed by a definition. I could say, everyone has become famished, and felt so very hungry they were overwhelmed by their desire to eat. The second half of that sentence gives a definition of the first half of the sentence. What does it mean to be famished? It means to feel so hungry you are overwhelmed with the desire to eat. Applying that to Romans 3:23; what does it mean to sin? It means to come short of the glory of God.
Any time an individual does something that comes short of what God would do in that same situation, that action is a sin. I am sinning right now as I write these words. Even though I am seeking to write under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I know for a fact that if God Himself were typing these words, He would do a much better job at explaining this to you than I am doing. Since the Lord could do it better, then I am sinning by coming short of His perfection. In the area of sin, a miss is as good as a mile. Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons; not with God.
Imagine you were playing golf with God. You step up to the tee and make a mighty swing, hitting the ball perfectly down the fairway. Next it's Gods turn. He steps up and takes His swing. He hits the ball from the tee to the green and into the cup. You see, when playing 18 holes, God always shoots 18. He never misses. Every time He swings, it's a hole in one. He also bowls 300. Every roll of the ball is a strike. You can't compete with that! You can't perform on that level. You can't be like God! To think so is to believe a fundamental lie that has been responsible for the destruction of man from the beginning of time.
The lie that you can be like God, can be traced back to the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God placed the man in the Garden and gave him instructions. He said, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) Some people interpret that statement as meaning, if you eat of that tree I will surely kill you. Nothing could be further from the truth! We tell our children, You can cross the road, but don't step out in front of an semi-truck going 70 miles an hour or you will become a wet spot on the pavement. That statement is intended to protect them. It is informational. It isn't a threat. It is a commandment only in the sense that we want our children to trust what we say so that they will be safe and well. We want them to believe our words in order for them to avoid self destruction.
When facing the serpent in the Garden, Eve said in Genesis 3:3 "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Where the words neither shall ye touch it came from, we do not know. We only know that they were not included in Gods original instructions to Adam. God told Adam "......thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17) Adam may have added "neither shall ye touch it" when he repeated God's instructions in order to emphasize to Eve the importance of staying away from the tree. In any case, when you add to or take away from the truth, the truth becomes a lie and Satan has an opportunity to use that lie against you and others that believe it.
Given the opening afforded Him, the devil said "......... unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (5) For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5) He essentially told her, God is a liar. If you eat the fruit, you can become like God, being able to distinguish between good and evil. That statement from the devil to Eve contains the fundamental lie that he has used against mankind throughout the generations. It contains a partial truth, laced with a deception. For example, I can tell you that you can be like me if, when you are young, you spend a lot of time in the sun without any protection or sunscreen. Yes, you too can have skin cancer! But who wants that? God had originally created Adam and Eve in His own image, in every good way that He wanted them to be like Him. They were like little children, with no concept of
good or evil. Knowing good and evil doesn't make you like God in any good way. It robs you of innocence, brings forth guilt, shame and fear, and eventually breeds pride and a judgmental attitude!
Genesis 3:6 goes on to tells us "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." There is only one way that she could have seen that the tree was good for food. The serpent must have eaten from it. God hadn't said that the serpent would die if it ate of the fruit. The devil was fully aware of that fact. Eve on the other hand was naive and apparently a little gullible. Next Genesis 3:6 says "she saw that it was pleasant to the eyes." That would seem to indicate that she examined it, probably touched it, most likely held it, and discovered that nothing of any negative consequence resulted from her examination. Those few added words, neither shall ye touch it, had devastating consequences. She began to doubt God. What this whole story boils down to, rests in how you interpret what took place here. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, were they being disobedient to God's command, or were they demonstrating a lack of faith in God's Word?
If someone is being disobedient, they can correct for disobedience by becoming obedient. On the other hand if someone is demonstrating a lack of faith, i.e.. unbelief, they can correct for their lack of faith by becoming faithful, i.e.. by believing. So, I ask you, in church after church and denomination after denomination, throughout the whole world, what is the fundamental message that is declared? Unfortunately that message is far too often that: "Disobedience is what God hates. Disobedience is sin. If you become obedient, God will love and accept you. You can become like God, distinguishing between good and evil, and choosing to be obedient by doing that which is good." They say that: "Doing good works is God's will for your life. That alone is pleasing in His sight. You need to do those things that we say are right and not do those things that we have determined are wrong. Keep these laws and God will love you and you'll have an express trip straight to heaven when you die." Sadly that message is a lie, right from
the devil. It's the same lie the serpent told to Adam and Eve. It comes right from the bowels of hell. Believing that you can become like God by knowing the difference between good and evil and choosing to do the good is a Satanic deception that will most certainly cause those who believe it to be ultimately cast into the lake of fire. It is a fundamental error.
God told Adam that if he ate of the tree in the midst of the garden, he would die. The serpent told Eve, you will not die. Answer this question. WHOM DID EVE BELIEVE? Undoubtedly she believed the devil. Genesis 3:6 says Eve gave the fruit to Adam and he did eat. Adam knew that God had said, if you eat it you will die. Yet, WHOM DID ADAM BELIEVE? Obviously he believed Eve, his wife. God clearly identifies the underlying reason for the fall when He says to Adam in Genesis 3:17 that it was all because Adam had hearkened unto the voice of his wife. Neither one of them had believed God.
The only way to correct for not believing God, is to do the opposite and believe God. That is why God chose faith as the means by which redemption would come. Without understanding that fundamental truth, faith makes no sense at all. Why must we believe? Believing as a means of obtaining and maintaining redemption seems foolish! 1 Corinthians 1:27 declares ".....God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise......." The truth is actually very simple. Because not believing was responsible for the fall, believing is the means by which you can be restored. For Adam and Eve in the garden believing God meant believing that eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would bring death. In this current day and age believing God begins with believing
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and He is Lord!
Once sin is a part of your life, separation from God is the result. The remedy for that separation is what must be fundamentally correct. According to Adam and Eve, once they had eaten of the fruit, the only remedy they saw for their sin was to cover themselves up. Genesis 3:7 says "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." They recognized they were sinners, they had eaten of the fruit, and they had not believed God. Eve had believed the devil and Adam had believed his wife. Then they tried to fix their problem by using the works of their hands to cover up what they perceived to be the visible result of their sin: their nakedness. On the inside they were still filled with fear, but on the outside they were looking good at least in their own eyes. They were wearing the works of their hands; the aprons that covered their nakedness. God on the other hand presented them with an entirely different plan for dealing with their sin. Genesis
3:21 says "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." The aprons that they had made to atone for their sin, were insufficient in the eyes of God. He made them coats of skins instead.
Answer this question. What must happen in order for an animal to give up its skin? Yes! It has to die. God demonstrated death to Adam and Eve. He showed them the very first sacrifice. They had played with that little lamb in the garden. Adam had named it. Now it was lying on the ground, quivering, with its lifes' blood pouring out. The lamb died so that their sin could be covered. The lamb died in their place. God introduced them to the Gospel of Christ by teaching them that: for sin comes death, but the death of a substitute is an acceptable alternative as long as the substitute is of sufficient value to cover the sin. This initiated the whole sacrificial system. Adam and Eve apparently taught the concept of the sacrifice to their children. Genesis 4:3-4 tells us that "...in process of time it
came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. (4) And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:" Once again we see the contrast between believing God and believing the lie of the Satan in the offerings brought to the Lord by Cain and Able. God had presented them with the means by which they could come to him. It was by recognizing that, for sin comes death. They deserved to die, but the lamb could die in their place. Abel obviously believed God as he brought a lamb to sacrifice. Cain on the other hand brought to the Lord the best vegetables from his garden. He had worked hard to bring his very best to the Lord, but his very best was not enough. Abel hadn't produced that lamb. He hadn't done anything to make it. God was not giving any kind of preference to Abel. He was completely willing to accept an offering from Cain. The offering however, had to be the only acceptable offering the Lord was willing to receive at the time: the blood of the lamb. John 1:29 declares that ".....John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." All the sacrificial lambs that had died before, from the ones that provided the coats for Adam and Eve, to the one offered by Abel, to the ones that died in the passover and beyond, were all pointing to a future sacrificial lamb; the true lamb: the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. His blood was more than just a covering for sin. His blood was capable of completely washing sin away.
Whenever I ask someone about their relationship with God I get very similar answers. "I haven"t been too bad throughout my life. I always try to do the right thing. I've never hurt anyone," etc. God will not accept that kind of offering. It involves your ability to know good and evil, and your ability to choose good. It involves you doing your very best and believing that your puny efforts will somehow be sufficient to please Him. It is the devils deception and the very attitude that Jesus condemned in the Pharisees, the most religious people of the day. If you approach God based on your ability to know good and evil, and do that which is right, you will be rejected and ultimately cast out.
Only by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31) can anyone be saved. Isaiah 64:6 declares ".......all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags......" and Romans 3:10-12 clearly tells us ".......There is none righteous, no, not one: (11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." By receiving Jesus Christ (John 1:12), by confessing Him with your mouth and believing in your heart that He is raised from the dead (Romans 10:9), you literally put on Christ. You wear Jesus Christ in the same way Adam and Eve wore the coats of skins. He alone is the lamb that taketh away the sin of the world. He is the only means provided for your redemption. Faith is the only method by which you can come to God. Certainly God wants you to be righteous. He wants you to do good works. But none of us are capable of doing anything good. The only good that ever comes from us is the good that the Spirit of God does through us. When we receive Christ as Savior, the Spirit of God comes to live within us.
He conforms us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) and we will undoubtedly begin to do that which is good. What we must never forget is that the only good that we then do, is the good that God is doing through us and therefore we do not deserve any credit for it. It is His good works, not ours. Turn away from your own self righteousness. Quit believing the lie of the serpent. Understand that you can't be like God! Stop offering your best to God, and start receiving His best for you. Pray and ask God to forgive you based upon the sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Ask Him to come into your life and forgive your sins. The ears of God are always open to accept the offering of the blood of the Lamb. That, brothers and sisters, is fundamentally right!