"Yes," today's ministers will say, "the New Testament speaks of many punishments that will be administered to the wicked. But none of these apply to a Christian because we are saved by grace."

This is the sort of destructive ignorance that fills the United States of America in our day. This is why the true testimony of Christ has all but vanished from our country. We have an abundance of ministry in America but little witness of Christ's Person and way. And this is why our government, our schools, and our courts are in such an undesirable condition.

Considering for a moment the parables of the foolish virgins and the man who buried his talent, precisely who are these people? The Jews? Are the unsaved the Lord's servants who are given talents? Are the unsaved Jews the ones who will have the door shut in their face because they do not have enough of the Holy Spirit?

Whomever Jesus is addressing must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God; must abide in Christ if they are to bear fruit, and will be removed from Christ if they do not bear fruit.

If it is the Christians who must be born again and who must abide in Christ, then it is the Christians who are in danger of having the door shut in their face and who will be thrown into the outer darkness if they bury their talent.

There absolutely is no scriptural basis whatever for chopping up the Words of Jesus Christ in this fashion. We of today's Christian preachers and teachers are the blind leading the blind, and that is the best that can be said for us.

Our lampstand of witness has been removed because we have not adhered to the Word of God.

We are preaching God's love but the Apostles in the Book of Acts preached repentance. We have been overcome with Humanism, the love of man for himself. It is time to return to God's Word.

We indeed shall receive the good we have done. We indeed shall receive the bad we have done.

It will be too late to do anything about this when the Lord returns. Now is the time to change what we are sowing.

Second Corinthians 5:10, like every other Word of Jesus Christ, stands exactly as written. Every one of us shall appear before Christ and give an account to Him for the way we have lived since we have received Him.

Have we taken up our cross and followed Him each day, as He commanded?

Have we presented our body to God as a living sacrifice?

Have we each day counted that we have died with Christ on the cross and have risen from the dead with Him and have ascended with Him to the right hand of the Father?

Have we crucified our flesh with its lusts and passions?

Have we learned to pray without ceasing?

Have we meditated in God's Word until we can cut a straight path in the Word of truth?

To be continued.