Why do we love God? The inspired Holy Bible plainly gives us the answer. We love God because He first loved us. I cherish the following passage of Scripture:
Romans 5:6-9, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
How many people do you know that would sacrifice their life for someone? How about for a righteous man? How about even for a good man? Or how about for a convicted criminal? Jesus did dear friend. Jesus died for murderers! Jesus gladly sacrificed His life for pedophiles! Jesus laid down His life for thieves, adulterers and false prophets! Would you be willing to make such a sacrifice? I know that I wouldn't. I wouldn't give my life to die for a criminal. Oh, but the dear Savior did. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!
I have to admit that I am a bit baffled as to why God would love somebody like me. 1st John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.” I am awkward around people, a bit of a social misfit. I am shy and even have some social anxiety around people at times. I once heard Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) say that he felt like nobody wanted to be around him because of his personality as a preacher. People saw a bombastic aggressive preacher in the pulpit. Dr. Hyles was known for taking an uncompromising stand and promoting biblical separation. He oftentimes had to use tough love in his daily ministry work. Yet, most people loved Brother Hyles, including myself.
In hindsight, I am glad that I didn't have the opportunity to get to know Pastor Hyles any closer than I did. We are all human and have our faults. Everyone has an ugly side that we don't want others to see. I want people to see my good side, my loving side, not my cranky side because of my chronic neck pain that afflicts me. I also feel like nobody wants to be around me. However, they are just feelings, not necessarily reality. So often what we think about ourselves is not based upon what we think, or even upon what other people think, but upon what we think other people are thinking about us. That is very true and interesting.
1st John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.” Dear reader, God loves you and me regardless of how we may feel. There is not even one human being whom God created that He doesn't love. We know this truth because Jesus died for all mankind. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 1st John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Please don't ever believe any liar who says that Jesus didn't die for all humanity.
In the two Scripture passages that I just shared with you, we clearly see that Christ died for all mankind. That was the entire point of Romans 5:6-9 that we read earlier—Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life on the cross for even the vilest of wicked sinners! Ungodly people who you might cringe at their very presence, Jesus was willing to be crucified to give them a chance to be redeemed if they so choose to be by faith in Him.
Telling The Truth Makes Enemies
We love God because He first loved us. What a precious truth! I can name a handful of preachers, churches and ministry websites who despise me. They have banned me from attending their neo-evangelicals churches. When I lived on Guam for 17 years, I was cruelly banned from attending the Harvest Baptist Church by senior pastor, Marty Herron (a wicked Lordship Salvation infidel). When I moved to Pensacola in 2021, I was banned from attending Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College (PCC) by their ungodly senior pastor, Jeff Redlin (who promotes a counterfeit gospel). What wicked wolves in sheep's clothing!
PCC's students are hurting, but their carnally-minded arrogant leadership is so apostate that you cannot reason with fools. God's curse is upon PCC for preaching another gospel. You do not have to be willing to forsake sinful bad habits to get to Heaven. Self reformation is not a prerequisite to saving faith.
Pensacola Christian Christian Cult Exposed
If it wasn't for the hatred, bigotry and shameful unchristian behavior of their Campus Church pastors at PCC, I wouldn't be preaching against them. All I humbly wanted was to come back to church, but their ungodly pastors refused. Only a religious CULT selectively cares about people. The sad truth is that PCC doesn't care about anybody.
Here are umpteen negative reviews of PCC, revealing the dark underbelly of the filthy religious beast. Bigotry done under the pretense of prayer is still bigotry. PCC are full of religious bigots! Divorced people are shunned, as I was at PCC. Single divorced people are condemned to forever remain unmarried, even after 15 years of being divorced. You need to beware of PCC's hateful culture of authoritarian abuse. You won't find any genuine love or compassion at PCC. They are college yuppie types, woefully lacking in understanding and love.
“The pastors have destroyed the churches, and they've been trained by people that have never built churches, and they have no compassion.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “Many Pastors Have Destroyed My Vineyard”
I wouldn't give you a dime for the pseudo-Christian culture of bullying and abuse at PCC! To survive at PCC you must dot your i's, cross your t's, and walk a very fine line. If you veer even a little bit to the left or right, you'll be on the outside looking in before you realize what happened. It doesn't matter if you're a senior student, who has invested years of hard work to earn your degree, PCC leaders will throw you under the bus and axe your head off like a turkey on Thanksgiving Day! Just ask senior PCC student Allen Armentrout! I commend and stand with Allen Armentrout. PCC only cares about protecting their cult institution's name at all cost, even if it means crucifying and sacrificing their own students as pawns.
Unlike God who loved us FIRST so that we would love Him, PCC mistreats people and holds grudges first, and then wonder why they have so many enemies. It is a biblical principle that Christians are supposed to love people FIRST, to show them God's unconditional love:
Matthew 5:44-46, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”
Although some people might consider this truth an advanced teaching only for mature believers, it is actually kindergarten for saints. Every Christian, even new babes in Christ who just got saved, should be taught to love everyone unconditionally with Christ's compassionate love. PCC is a cesspool of rules, strictness, policies, security, scrutiny and coldness. I do not recommend that anyone attend PCC, unless you want to waste 4 years of your life, tens of thousands of dollars, and be corrupted by their Laodicean phony type of Christianity which in Revelation 3:17 Jesus Himself called: wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.
1st John 4:19, “We love him, because he first loved us.” May we all do the same, to be like our heavenly Father.
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