Chapter 1
Introduction:
‘Choices and Consequences’ is a potpourri of true biblical accounts about God and His dealings with creation, nations, people groups, and individuals that were, and still are, wrestling with the issues of life. It reveals the attributes and actions of the three-in-one God of the bible, and some of the nations and people with whom God dealt. It also reveals the choices these nations and people made and the consequences of their decisions, whether good or bad.
In The Holy Bible, God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, tells us about two spiritual gates that we can go through in this life to enter into eternal life. These gates and the paths they open lead to two separate places wherein we will spend eternity at the end of our journey on earth: heaven or hell. Jesus encourages us saying, “(13) ‘Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (14) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'” (Matthew 7:13-14 KJV)
The wide gate and broad path lead to spending eternity in hell; the strait gate and narrow way leads to eternal life in heaven with God. Everyone will spend eternity in one of these two places. Which path will you choose? God allows each person to choose their eternal destination by the way they live out their lives and what they believe, but each person will face the consequences of their actions and their choice.
In ‘Choices and Consequences’ we will investigate stories in The Holy Bible. We will look at glimpses of the history of God’s people, the Israelites. We will look at some actions and events of this great people because the choices and consequences they made shaped their history, and contributed many things to the lives of the generations of people who came after them. Their good choices usually reaped good consequences and their bad choices, bad consequences. But not all good or bad things happened because of the choices they made.
Looking at this historical setting will help us better understand the years of persecution and personal struggles they endured, and why (like many of us), their emotions escalated to intense levels in some circumstances, and descended in others. At times they were happy, joyful, and even rejoicing. Other times they were angry, depressed, discouraged, and grieved. Like many of us, the peoples’ emotions went up and down like a yoyo in play, depending on the circumstances around them.
When peoples’ emotions escalate or descend into depression, it hinders our ability to make good choices. We often respond out of anger or hurt and do or say things without thinking clearly or without considering the consequences of our actions or words. We let anger, frustration, and other emotional responses take over our reasoning and react out of that emotion. Our emotional reactions can bring about great destruction and cause serious damage to the environment and people around us, and we can reap bad consequences upon others and ourselves because of our actions and our words.
Frequently, our family and friends can get the brunt of our bad actions and words. They are conveniently within our reach and we strike out at them because of anger or frustration. This is clearly abuse and we need to stop it, now! We have no idea how deep the wounds we make can hurt those around us. We need God’s help in breaking this horrible habit.
Sometimes, because of so much abuse by those around them, people have internal hurts that create sensitive areas, and certain actions and words of others can trigger past injuries. In this case, the person with the sensitivity has a anxiety attack, and even at times their fight or flight response will kick in. They react so quickly that they have little time to stop the response. They need healing by the power of God to help overcome this. Many times, the person who triggered the anxiety attack had no idea the chain reaction they were going to set off.
Our emotional responses can also create dangerous situations that stir up passions or anger in others to the level that they create anger, hate, and even mob mentality. They stir up anger in others that is so intense that it stirs others to create mobs whereby people get injured, emotionally, mentally, or physically, sometimes even murdered.
We see great examples of this from our fanatical leaders and political people. Many of the Democrat politicians and some of the Republicans rage about on television, trying to stir up people to hate President Trump, his supporters, and those in his administration. Just look at what fanatical extremists did to Elon Musk and Charlie Kirk. And, I believe these fanatics knew exactly what they were doing, and they were trying to devastate President Trump and the people by promoting their own hate and rage toward others, to try to create fear and turn people against Trump and Christian people and values.
These people want to destroy our nation, but what they don’t realize is that God is our protector, and He knows and sees what they are doing. They will pay for their evil choices, if not held accountable by our legal system–God will hold them accountable in His time. He can bring out the evidence from the hidden places and expose it for all to see. They will not like His consequences!!
The Israelites, like any other people, were often–and still are–burdened by bad circumstances, whether from bad choices or not. Many times the Israelites were burdened by other nations and people groups who brought blatant evil upon them, and some even tried to annihilate them.
You may wonder how studying people of the past can help us today. They were in a whole different culture and time period. To this, I say, “Yes, but they were still human and faced many of the same struggles we face today.”
We can learn valuable lessons from these people regardless of the cultures, places, and time periods in which they lived. We can also pass the things we learn onto our children, grandchildren, and others in our sphere of influence and hopefully avoid a great deal of heartache. But we must listen, learn, and apply what we learn to our own lives when it is fitting.
We can look at examples of Godly people who allowed God to use them to accomplish great tasks, many of them impossible without God’s intervention. We can look at the choices these people made and see how they found solutions to their struggles, and overcame great obstacles to finish the work God had given them to do. Perhaps some of these solutions can help us with our struggles?
As I researched material for this book I learned lessons from great leaders like Ezra, Jeremiah, Joshua, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel. These truths encouraged me to stand during difficult circumstances, gave me solutions and tools to help me move forward when I wanted to quit or retreat, taught me ways of dealing with difficult people (including myself), and helped me find means of problem solving and battling spiritual warfare. The lessons learned from the Bible and presented in ‘Choices and Consequences’ can be valuable to anyone with an open heart who will listen, learn, and apply them to their lives.
Occasionally some of the lessons or words may seem harsh or unloving. It’s not my intention to exalt myself or hurt or put condemnation on anyone because I am a sinner too. But sometimes speaking the truth in love requires speaking out “tough love” to stress the importance of the message or to get someone’s attention and get the message across.
At times God had to get tough with people to correct them. Some times He had to eliminate groups of people because of their evil acts and/or influence on others. God had to destroy these people so they couldn’t hurt others or spread their false beliefs and wicked behavior around to others. You may say that isn’t love, but it was love because it stopped evil people from polluting God’s people or other people groups by their wicked customs, doctrine, and evil behavior and life-patterns.
Evil behavior is sin against God, and the consequences of it for unbelievers– those who reject God and never repent and receive Christ in their heart and life–is eternal death. They will die naturally, and will spend eternity in hell, a place of horrific torment.
Those who believe, who have repented of their sin, and have accepted Jesus Christ into their heart and life will be saved. They are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ and have been clothed with His righteousness through the work he accomplished on the cross at Calvary. If they continue to abide in Christ, repent for their sins, and walk with God, they will be raised up and spend eternity with God in heaven, become adopted children of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and kings and priests who minister and serve God in heaven throughout eternity.
For clarification, the term “sin” means disobedience, and missing the goal of perfection, the standard God has established for people to make it into heaven. We can’t reach this standard with our own abilities, strengths. and works. This is why God had to send his son, Jesus Christ, to intervene on our behalf. John chapter 3; 1, 2, and 3 John, and the book of Romans explain this. Romans, chapter 3 tells us that we are all sinners, and there is none righteous, not one.
As God tugs at my heart to continue to write, I pray that He will open the eyes, hearts, and minds of all who are doing evil so they can see their need for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and will repent, be born of the Spirit, and find the gate and strait path to life in heaven as a member of God’s heavenly household. I also pray for those who have been hurt, even murdered by evil doers. May they also come to know the one true God who can comfort, heal, love, and save them.
God also has the answers to the struggles of humanity, and He wants us to come to Him for these answers. God wants a personal relationship with each one of us. He love us, and wants us to love Him back. God loves us so much he gives us the choice to choose or reject him. Our choice will determine where we spend eternity. No one can blame God for the choices they make or the consequences they face because they choose their own final, eternal destination.
You can read about God’s agape love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and in 1, 2, and 3 John. God’s love is holy, pure, and unfailing; it is not self-seeking. God’s love seeks the best for us, even to the point of sacrificing Jesus for us. God keeps hoping we will choose the path to heaven, through the narrow gate–through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 KJV tells us, “Jesus saith unto him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.'”
In Revelation 3:20-21 KJV. Jesus says, “(20) ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (21) To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father in His throne.'”
You can also hear the heart of God calling out to his people in the words Jesus spoke on a hill overlooking Jerusalem, “(37) ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killeth the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!'” (Matthew 23:37 KJV) God continually desires people to come to him to be saved and establish a personal, one-on-one relationship with him.
God will frequently use his people to spread his word and share testimonies of God’s work in their lives to minister to the hearts of others in a variety of ways. God commissions his people to do this to reconcile the lost to him. He also works through his word and his people to administrate his church, comfort, convict, encourage, exhort, evangelize, heal, bring words of knowledge and wisdom, lead, be missionaries, pray, preach, prophecy, serve, and teach his people. He is equipping and preparing his people for service on earth and positions in heaven. The Bible says that what we will become is a great mystery that will be revealed when we get to heaven.
Our task now is to abide in Christ by having our relationship with Him daily, reading and spreading God’s word, following God’s commands and walking daily with him. We also need to reach out to others and tell the lost about God’s message of Jesus, the work he did on the cross at Calvary, and the opportunity to come to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation. We are commanded to love God and others, and to, whenever possible, pull the lost out of the clutches of Satan and eternal death, and lead them to Jesus Christ.
I believe the last days are quickly coming upon us, and we need to put the message of the gospel out in the world, and to our family, friends, and others in our paths. We also need to practice what we preach and do our best not to be hypocrites and not to sin and hurt others. We need to be Ambassadors for Jesus and bring the ministry of reconciliation to those who need to hear it.
One final note: Though we cannot follow the ways of the world and compromise our beliefs, we can–as much as possible–love others and reach out to them in a way that does not hate because of spiritual differences. We are to hate the sinful behavior but love the person, even our enemies, and pray for them. As much as possible, we are to live at peace with our neighbors, yet stand against the sin in this world. We are to leave the vengeance and repayment of evil acts done to us in God’s hands, and trust Him to take care of it.
Our world is so divided now, we need to do what we can to keep the peace without compromising our faith in God. We have no business spreading hate, inciting mob mentality, and causing evil to come upon others because of our actions, speech, and our communication over the internet or other means. We need to bring glory to God, demonstrate His love to others, and be ready to give an account for the hope we have. God drew others to himself by lovingkindness, not through argument, debate, and beating people over the head with Bibles.
Seeds of Christian Faith 