“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea‘” (Matthew 18:1-6).

Some scholars state that this verse is speaking specifically to “those who believe in me,” the word “those” referring to all those who believe in Jesus as new converts, but could it instead be referring to all those children who believe in Him?

I understand that the subject matter for verses 1-5 is “The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven,” and the subject matter for verses 6-9 is “Causing to Stumble.” However, by the same token, even though Jesus used the child as an object lesson, He also placed great emphasis on the child. Also, Jesus specifically said, “one of these little ones.” To me, at least, it seems “little ones” is referring to a child. So, I see this as a two-headed snake, so to speak. I believe Jesus could be referring to both, with equal importance, in this object lesson with the child.

By the way, I kept “two-headed snake” in the sentence because whoever causes “one of these little ones” to stumble will bring upon themselves the wrath of God. So don’t let it offend you, unless of course, you’re guilty of what Jesus said.

Next is another Scripture passage that most definitely shows Jesus’ special love for children.

“Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’ And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them“ (Mark 10:13-16).

Here is the same scenario we had in Matthew. The child (children in this case) is the subject matter, and Jesus uses the children again to teach an object lesson. The point is, even though Jesus takes the opportunity to teach by using the children to demonstrate a factual point, the subject remains the same; the child in Matthew and the children in Mark. Jesus is talking about the children. He may be using them to teach a lesson, but He is talking about the children specifically.

Here in Mark He was very angry at his disciples for rejecting the children. What did He do? “He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.” What did He say about them in Matthew? He said, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Where am I going with this? It is now time to say so. Just speaking with our own country in mind, not counting the rest of the world, we as a nation and a people have put the millstone around our necks when it comes to the children in this nation via abortion, molestation, immorality, etc.

ABORTION

In the 2018-2019 Annual Report for Planned Parenthood, page 24, they report 345,672 abortion procedures for the year 2019. This is a 3.88% increase from the year 2018, and 2018 had an increase of 3.51%. ¹

Since 1980, worldwide, there have been 1,585,147,910 abortions as of today. There have been, worldwide, 25,448,970 abortions this year (2020) as of today.

In the United States there have been 542,138 this year (2020) as of today, and there have been 1,262 abortions today (08-17-20).

You can see a continuously updated count of all abortions at the following website: www.numberofabortions.com. The numbers (above) I just gave you have already increased.

IMMORALITY

It is estimated for the year 2016 that there were 705,000 same-sex couples in America, about 346,000 male/male and 359,000 female/female. ²

From the government census bureau for the year 2019, there were 1,012,000 homosexual couples living together, 61,400,000 married heterosexual couples and 8,000,000 non-married heterosexual couples. ³

MOLESTATION

It is estimated that 15% to 25% of women have been molested as children and 5% to 25% of men.

CLOSING

I don’t wish to belabor all the facts and/or statistics that can be easily found. My objective is to conclude that we are in dire straits with Almighty God. We once led the world in sending out missionaries abroad and within our own homeland to witness for Jesus Christ, but now we are a nation with bloody hands and a black heart that God will not tolerate.

Our children have been:

Kidnapped and sexually abused

Kidnapped and sold into slavery

Adopted into homes with same-sex homosexual ‘parents’

Sexually molested by parents and family members

Sexually molested by others in authority

Physically abused by parents and other ‘family’ members

Mentally abused by adults

Murdered by parents and other adults

Taught to accept lifestyles that God hates

Taught that God is not real, or He is mean

Raped with a parent’s consent

Influenced by drug and/or alcohol-induced adults

Left to take care of themselves in cages, filth and squalor

Murdered by the millions within their own mothers’ wombs

Etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.,

There are many good people in this country that would make excellent parents, but are often passed over for homosexuals or transsexuals wanting to adopt. God sees all of this, and from His own Word, He will judge the perpetrators.

We have proven we want nothing to do with God, and we are corrupting our own children if they are fortunate enough to not be butchered in their own mother’s womb.

God’s heart is tender for all the children of the world, and the adults of this nation and others are placing these little ones in situations that nearly doom their very souls.

Is it any wonder we are overrun with serial murderers, serial rapists, serial child molesters, child slavery, child sex exploitation and the like? Is it any surprise that politicians, celebrities and other wealthy people are involved in child trade? Even the poor among us are just as guilty.

Yes, I am speaking in general terms. Thank God all Americans are not of that persuasion. There are many good people who are not even Christians who are appalled at the wickedness that is all around us. More so with Christians who love the word of God and are horrified at the onslaught against anything that is holy.

We have an election coming up this November 2020 that will tell us if God will give us another chance or if He has washed His hands of us. If the ultra-liberals get control, it will be worse than the Obama years, if that were possible. All hell will be unleashed upon this country, and the ravening wolves of Satan will be devouring the citizenry. Considering the treatment of those little souls Jesus loves so much, I would not be surprised to hear the call of the Bridegroom to His bride, “Come up here.” Neither would I be surprised that He waits so that more may come to Him and be saved. Either way, this nation is walking on banana peels at the edge of a deep precipice.

I hope I’m wrong, but I do not envision our country turning back to God, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do so individually. Those of us who are part of the true Church surely can see the end is in sight. We must pray and get out the word that:

“For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation‘” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

And this is the day we long for:

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10).

1 https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/facts-figures/annual-report

2 https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/same-sex-parents-us/

3 https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/same-sex-households.html

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

Mirrors have been around a long time. Today they are made of glass, but the earliest were made of various metals and even stone. Perhaps even earlier, someone noticed their reflection in a pool of water. Viola! Mirror!

I’ve never seen a woman that didn’t like a mirror. You know, “Vanity, of vanities.” Before I get in too deep, I had better follow up by saying men can’t seem to do without them either, maybe not quite as much, but still guilty.

We all know how it is in the morning after we awake. One of the first things we do is check ourselves out in front of the bathroom mirror. You’re thinking, “My goodness, what is that looking back at me! Is this a freak show?!”

Now, if we all got up the next morning like they did in the older movies, we would all look good. Did you ever notice they had not a hair out of place? The women still had their makeup and lipstick on, and of course, no one had “morning foul mouth.” Even their pajamas were still pressed!

It isn’t like that here at our house. How about yours? I do know my wife and I really love each other because we can rise to meet a new day, and she always looks like a princess to me.

Anyway, back to mirrors. We use mirrors basically to view what we can’t see without one. Isn’t that right? There is no way I can see my face without some kind of mirror. I might look okay, or I might look like something the cat hacked up.

Have you ever wondered what God sees when He looks at us? The thing is, God doesn’t just see our face; He sees our heart, and what does He say about it?

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Now that’s an eye-opener. That’s like a teenager getting up in the morning and discovering a new zit when looking in the mirror. Horror of horrors! And today’s a school day! Argh!!!

Be that as it may, that’s what God sees. Nevertheless, the Scriptures tell us how to fix it. No, not the zit, the heart! Following is one of three Scriptures I would like to share, and I will do so first in the Kings James Version (KJV) and then the New Living Translation (NLT). The NLT will make it so much easier to understand, and I will do this for the next two Scripture passages also.

“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:23-25, KJV).

“For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it” (James 1:23-25, NLT).

This verse says to “look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free.” So, what is the “perfect law”? James is referring to the law of righteousness that the apostle Paul addressed in Romans 9:30-33. It is simply the law of grace and living by faith in Christ. The Jews missed it because they wanted works of the law to supersede just exercising faith. Believe me; they were gung-ho on works. It’s in the Bible.

We can start right here changing that ole ugly heart, by living by faith in the Lord, day after day. The Spirit of God lives in each Christian, so allow Him to actually live through us and glorify Jesus. In His doing so, it will change us, which is just what we see in the next verse.

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, KJV).

“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT).

A Christian out of fellowship is a Christian reflecting himself or herself instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we want is to reflect Jesus Christ in how we live. There is an old hymn called Let Others See Jesus In You, and that is where we want to be in our lives. In other words, we want to be a mirror that will reflect, not ole Grumpy Gus, but the love of Jesus. Maybe by that alone, someone will want to know what we have that is so special … and we can tell them. Our opportunity to witness is open. Now our last verse.

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV).

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT).

As the verse above says, we can’t see everything clearly now, because we still have that old sin nature within us. It’s like looking into one of those very old mirrors that just didn’t show a perfectly clear image.

We have to be careful about this, because Satan will stick anything in front of us, hiding our sinful heart, making us think his way is the right way. However, the Lord wants us to trust Him. He wants to live through each of us and change our heart so that it reflects His righteousness and not ours (we have none independently anyway).

Won’t it be great to wake up in Heaven and see what Jesus wants us to reflect instead of what we think looks good? We all have a little vanity in us, and that is what needs to be removed.

I must share one more verse, and when we step in front of our mirror, this is what God wants to see in us.

“The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: ‘I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts'” (Isaiah 57:15, NLT).

God can clearly see us as we truly are, all the way down to our very soul. He knows us even better than we know ourselves because He sees us as we really are. Isn’t it obvious we need some kind of spiritual mirror to see as He would have us see? Actually, He has made that provision. It’s called the Bible, and He has even made it possible that those who are in Him can understand it. (Read 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.) Now how does He do that? He opens our eyes to the Truth … Himself.

Going back to James 1:23-25 that we read earlier, notice it says, “For if you listen to the word….” The Word (Bible) is our mirror, and we listen to the word with the eyes of our soul.

Now back to 2 Corinthians 3:18, it says, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see…” God not only provides the mirror, but also the ability to see as He would have us see. (Again, read 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.)

Finally, notice 1 Corinthians 13:12 that we read earlier. “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity…” None of us in these earthly bodies will ever understand everything in the Bible (Isaiah 55:8-9), but there is coming a day when we shall see Him face to face and our eyes will be opened.

No one in their right mind would want to leave their house and go to a fancy party looking like they were trampled by a herd of buffalo. So, all the needed time necessary is spent in front of the mirror.

Shouldn’t every Christian have the same desire spiritually that we have physically? Shouldn’t we spend all the needed time necessary in front of the Mirror before we face the world?

As I said earlier, we use a mirror to see what we cannot see without one. The world hides the truth. The world doesn’t even know the truth. Only in the Word of God can we really see and know the Truth. While we examine our self by that perfect Mirror, the Holy Spirit grooms our soul and perfects us to reflect Jesus Christ in our life.

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html