I'm not overly happy with some of our ministers / preachers / teachers / televangelists when they say things against our forefathers (or mothers) regarding mistakes they made during their time on earth. Of some of our dearly departed saints, the very elect of God, for which I hear *bashing* toward are: Adam & Eve, King David & King Solomon, Peter, Thomas, and Paul. Jokes and insults hurled their way, when they are not even here to defend themselves, in hateful ways that the listening public is suppose to think cute or funny ... I am NOT among them! Here's my beef {all KJV scripture comes from BlueLetterBible.org}:
Adam & Eve get bashed for the initial fall of mankind. Some blame her, some blame him, some blame the snake but what fun is it to bash a snake anyway, right? I've heard ministers of the Gospel say that the first thing they're going to do when they get to heaven is find Adam (&/or Eve) and give him (&/or her) a swift (hard) kick right in his (&/or her) hinny at least once, some want to kick them more than that! Let me say this in defense of Adam & Eve ... first off, do you not think that both of them are full of remorse for their choices? I believe they are both in heaven, both able to see or perhaps hear from the incoming souls, what is going on in the earth they were given, and the goings on of the children that have come from their loins. Do you not suppose that they, created initially without sin, didn't die a thousand painful deaths in heart & spirit when their eldest son Cain slew their younger son Abel? Do you not suppose that would be agony to them both? Do you suppose they didn't suffer MUCH LONGER than you or I, considering their lifespans, in regard to listening to that serpent and as a result being expelled from their home, which was Paradise (the garden of Eden), and away from God? Put yourselves in their place and tell me you would have made different choices had it of been you God created first, I will call you a liar. We would have done exactly the same thing, our daily sinful lives are proof of that, even though we profess to know so much more and are as advanced in technology ... we would still have done the same thing given the same circumstances, EVERY ONE OF US! Suppose you to be holier than Adam & Eve because you live in a different day & time? Perhaps we should blame them for all our troubles. I say, not so! Jesus Christ came to live on this planet, a fleshly life with all of its trials & temptations, yet He didn't sin once, not once. HE shows that it can/could be done in the flesh, therefore no man/woman has any excuse. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God {Rom 3:23}. To those of you that want to kick Adam &/or Eve's hinnys let me say to you, consider your own selves. You are no saint in the flesh either, you & I (as they) strive daily (I hope) to become all that God wants us to be. It may just be that they're up in heaven awaiting your arrival so they can kick your hinny for the dumb things you've done throughout your life ... especially for NOT learning from their documented mistakes!
As for me, I look forward to meeting them. I think, of all that have ever lived, these are the two I'd like to meet first on my arrival in heaven! After our initial greeting with hugs and holy kisses I would like to ask them, "why did you eat of the tree of Knowledge when BOTH trees were freely accessible and you were only forbidden to eat of the tree of Knowledge, not of the tree of Life!?" ... inquiring minds want to know! It brings to mind, and I'm pretty sure this will be their answer, the scenerio of telling a child not to touch that hot stove but they do it when your back is turned because they don't yet understand the consequences or trust that you have their best interest at heart when you say "thou shalt not"! I can only thank God that they did pick that tree first, and not the other ... I can't fathom the chaos had they of eatin of the tree of Life first, and then the tree of Knowledge afterward! Thank you Lord! Did you notice He told them of BOTH trees but only forbid them the ONE???
How's about King David & his son King Solomon? Well let's point the finger at them since I went and blew it for Adam & Eve! King David started out well, a lowly shepherd, anointed of God by the prophet Samuel to be king over all of Israel, the 2nd king of the land ... God's chosen king. Oh sure, he was only a teen when he was anointed, and had some 17 or so years to mature before he took the throne. Somewhere thereafter he got messy though. He had adulterous relationships, one resulting in an innocent man's murder, children conceived out of wedlock, bloody wars attritbuted to his name. He wandered off in his own direction, but always loved God. We always like to point at someone's mistakes though, and never at how God sees them. So David had some serious sin issues. Some, when they see him are certainly going to flap their lips and give him a piece of their minds that's for sure. And King Solomon, what's with all that wisdom but so many wives and concubines and then later in his life he turns to idolatry ... which is a major offense to God!? He needs a good swift kick in the hinny too doesn't he. It's not like anyone that's going to kick these folks' hinnys have ever committed any sins themselves ... heck no! They're all as innocent as the day is long, right!?
Peter and Thomas ... oh now these two, they really, really, really deserve a hinny kickin' when you get to heaven right? That Peter, I heard one *teacher* (and yes I do for the most part love her teachings) say that he had a foot-shaped mouth (meaning, Peter always had his foot in his mouth). Another said he's going to kick some Peter hinny (in abit stronger wording) when he gets to heaven ... this being the same minister that's going to kick Adam's hinny, several times, when he sees him. That's the first hinny he wants to attend to when he, in all his holiness, arrives in heaven. As for the lady teacher/preacher, she also said about Peter that he had to be some kind of idiot to rebuke Jesus. Yet Jesus says of this same idiot (Peter) that He has named a foundation of a wall in New Jerusalem to honor him {and 11 other apostles equally as flawed as he Rev 21:14, Eph 2:20}. Jesus never rebuked Peter, He rebuked satan who spoke through Peter. And Thomas, how lame is Thomas to need *proof* ... another one for the hinny kickin lineup of some of our illustrious preachers & teachers of the Gospel. I surely hope the Lord leads you to read this ... hypocrites one and all ... none of us deserve heaven, not a one of us {Rom 3:10-12, 1Cr 4:6, 1Cr 6:5}. Let's not forget we are exhorted to forgive people their shortcomings, and to "judge NOT lest ye be judged" {Mat 7:1, Luk 6:37}. So, let's not be lookin forward to kickin' hinnies ... OK? It's really not funny.
I saved one of my pet peeves for last, and that's the hinny kickin' due Paul. If any man on earth suffered for his bad choices in life it was Paul. Yes he had a bad start ... didn't YOU? I sure did. Paul may have persecuted the church but none of it was out of God's control. God allows the rain to fall on the good and the bad alike {Mat 5:45} and by our own *free will* we live and reap the benefits or the consequences of our own choices in life! Don't forget, this world is under satan's rulership! Paul MORE than made up for his early days in his latter days. I can only hope I can do likewise with my own life, which without our Lord Jesus is a complete and utter failure (of my own self). You are no different. You are no holier. You are no better. Consider humbling yourselves, those of you who think you are going to kick anyone's hinny when (IF) you get to heaven ... that kind of attitude will in fact BAR your entry to that glorious paradise! We all must forgive. We all must understand we have all committed every sin that any of the afforementioned did whether in thought, word or deed. We, however, have much less in the line of excuse than they did, we should have learned from their documented experiences ... the trials of their lives and the consequences of their actions. The further back in history we go the less excuse we have. Oh, and in case you believe the farse that Peter and Paul were enemies or hated one another, here's what Peter had to say about Paul & his writings!
2Pe 3:15 And account [that] the longsuffering of our Lord [is] salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16 As also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Perhaps you hinny kickin' preachers and teachers, after reading this article, will reconsider your hateful judgemental behavior towards those saints and foreparents that are now in heaven, and at the very least *on air* recant and apologize to those you have offended, does your conscience not convict you not to bad mouth the dearly departed, not even in jest??? They are in heaven waiting to hear from you! May you take this rebuking as it is intended, in stern love.
Jam 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jam 5:9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
Judge not against one another, Jesus and all the holy angels are *listening* and everything you do, say or think is being documented! Don't believe me?
Mat 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Judge yourselves, and rectify your misdeeds! As for me, I hope to know them all when I arrive in heaven, spending special time with each one to learn more about their valiant struggles of life and the valued lessons learned! I have NO plans to kick any hinnys but to embrace each one with LOVE and thank them for their lives & their writings! They are each a blessing. To those of you thinking you will be kickin' some hinny when (more like IF) you get to heaven, you may find the hinny being kicked is YOUR OWN and perhaps (God forbid) in that place of eternal darkness and suffocating heat!
God Bless ...