Burnishing Bigotry - 3rd edition

Lucy #132: You then move on to Matthew 7:19, and yet once again somehow fail to
realize that this verse applies to you & yours far more readily than to any other ―sinners‖. I
mean, just listen to it in its immediate context – surrounded by its accompanying verses:
―Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep‘s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You
will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way,
every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor
can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.‖ ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:15-20) … Can you hear it
now, my Friend? Can you see how this passage is actually describing you & yours (and other
―Pharisees‖ like you)? And do you now understand what Jesus meant here by ―bad fruit‖, my
Friend? That‘s right – hypocrisy, sadness, anger, hatred, bigotry, intolerance, self-centeredness,
religious zealotry, dissension, judgment of others; all the things that you & yours currently bring
into being every time you criticize or cajole or condemn the sins of homosexuals! So, I guess it
looks like you are the ones who will be cast first into the cleansing fire at some point,
my dear, not homosexuals (or any others you have judged to be ―mortal sinners‖) …
No worries, though, my dear. For if my interpretation of the Scriptures proves to be
correct (and it very well might be), then you will all come through this cleansing smoothly enough,
and will rejoin the rest of us who will have already been purged of similar arrogance & similar
aggressiveness before you …
―I baptize you with water for repentance, and yet one who is greater than I is coming
after me … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.‖ ~ Matthew 3:11
―I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! … Just as the
weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man
will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,
and they will throw them into the furnace of fire … Thereafter the righteous will shine like the
sun in the Kingdom of their Father.‖ ~ Jesus Christ (Luke 12:49 & Matthew 13:40-43)
P.S. Interestingly enough, even Paul seems to have inadvertently stumbled upon this
Truth when he wisely said …
―According to the grace of
God given to me, like a skilled
master builder I laid a foundation,
and someone else is building on it
… For no one can lay any
foundation other than the one that
has been laid; that foundation is
Jesus Christ … The work of each
builder will become visible, for
the Day will disclose it, because it
will be revealed with fire, and the
fire will test what sort of work
each has done … And yet if the
work is burned up, the builder will
suffer loss; the builder will still be
saved, as through fire.‖
~ 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
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