'Fair Is Foul

and foul is fair’ chant the 3 witches in Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’. Shakespeare had a clear knowledge of Scripture and it’s highly likely that his inspiration for the witches’ chant came from this warning given by the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before: ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil’ (Isaiah 5:20).

The above is an excerpt from a bible reading guide for youth called Bible Bytes. What situation or example can you think of when it comes to twisting good and bad?

I remember a teacher of mine once said something that had erased a whole lot of respect I had for him/her, I rephrased what was said: “If you want to be a politician, you got to know how to cheat, bribe and take bribery.”

That is so wrong!!! Hey guys, this is not right at all!

I wanted to scream my thoughts and correct that teacher right at that time but somehow I didn’t, all I did that time was just voice my objection to a classmate beside me. This still bothers me because many students liked that teacher! The immediate words Jesus said that comes to mind when I thought about it was:

It will be terrible for people who cause even one of my little followers to sin. Those people would be better of thrown into the deepest part of the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their neck! (Matthew 18v6)

As disgusting as the person leading someone to do wrong, there’s something to say about those who are supposedly “victims” as well as the rotten, out-to-be-thrown-into-the-sea people:

Don’t let anyone [trick; fool; deceive] you with [foolish talk; empty word; words that don’t mean anything]. God punishes everyone who [disobeys him; are disobedient] and says [or does] foolish things. So don’t [be partners; have anything to do] with them. (Ephesians 5v6-7)

You know something? I know I shouldn’t be saying this, that the teacher I mentioned, supposedly was a Christian (I heard). I’m gonna give you some … moment to let it sink in and for you to react any way you want (exclaim or go “eww...” or something) so here goes:

… … … …

Ready to continue? All right, breathe and read on!
I’ve been thinking often about the topic of Christians falling away from the faith, I know there’s a word for it – backsliding. In case you don’t really know what’s backsliding, no, it’s not sliding down the slide on your back; it means…erm…here are a bunch of meanings that I’ve found:

To slide back; to fall away; esp. to abandon gradually the
faith and practice of a religion that has been professed.
Slipping back; falling back into sin or error; sinning.

Now what can we say about people who backslide, are backsliding or had backslidden? Often times we say that God is merciful and gracious that He’ll take back the lost sheep or prodigal son with open and loving arms and well, I agree, and its true! But in Hebrews 6v4-6, Paul the Apostle warns against falling away:

But what about people who turn away after they have already seen the light and have received the gift from heaven and have shared in the Holy Spirit? What about those who turn away after they have received the good message of God and the powers of the future world? There is [no way; impossible] to bring them back. What they are doing is the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross [all over again] and [insulting; bringing shame] on Him in public!

Did you see what it says? Impossible! You might wanna read the verses again.

Impossible to be brought back to repentance! Oh no… is this real? Can a believer fall away? What happened to “eternal security”? is this passage referring to people who never fully became Christians? Paul argued again in Hebrews 10, and verses 26-29:

No sacrifices can be made for the people who decided [deliberately] to [keep on] sinning after they [received the knowledge; find out] about the truth. They are God’s enemies, and all they can [expect; look forward to] is a terrible judgment and a furious fire [that will burn up His enemies]. If 2 or more witnesses accused someone of breaking the Law of Moses, that person could be put to death. But it is much worse to [dishonor, hate, trample under foot] the Son of God and to [disgrace; treat unholy] the blood of the promise that made us holy. And it is just as bad to insult the Holy Spirit, who shows us mercy [and brings God’s grace]. [Don’t you think people like that should be punished more [severely] than anyone else?]

Scary…

Wow… now back to the “eternal security” issue. Yes, Salvation is eternal and even though some of us are born again, we still make mistakes and sin but God will forgive (but there’ll be consequences) and help us get back to the right path. So what sin that God can’t forgive? There is NO sin God can’t forgive…

Wrong.

I tell you that any sinful thing you do or say (blasphemy) can be forgiven. Even if you speak against [the Son of Man; God; Jesus], you can be forgiven. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven, either in this life or in the life to come. (Matthew 12v31-32)

As Bible Bytes put it, “NO FORGIVENESS FOR THIS SIN!” No forgiveness, no mercy, no grace, ever while you’re alive till even after you’re dead. Now what is the link between this huge mistake and the impossible-backslide-case?

Let’s talk about what it means to speak against the Holy Spirit by referring to what happened that made Jesus said those words in the verses above (check out Matthew12v22 onwards). Jesus healed a blind and mute guy who happened to be demon-possessed. Cool right? But the leaders/scholars known as the “Pharisees” at that time thought that it’s totally weird, witch-y and demonic even. They even said that Jesus healed the guy with powers from Beelzebub (the prince of demons).

Alright let’s fast forward a bit to Matthew12v38 onwards. Here, this bunch of I-think-I’m-so-smart guys asked Jesus for a miracle. But Jesus answered no; none will be given except the sign of Jonah. He even called them “wicked and adulterous (unfaithful; eg. Cheating in a relationship)”

Ooh~ what’s the big idea? What’s the sign of Jonah thingy about? The sign of Jonah refers to the miracle of Jesus rising from the dead after 3 days. You see, at first the “smart guys” called Jesus a fake when He did a miracle and yet after that they wanted another miracle or a “sign” so-called from Jesus. So Jesus did die and rose again after 3 days, their reaction?

Those crazy-unbelieving-sucker head “smart guys” still didn’t believe it though they witnessed the whole nail-on-the-cross and KNOW Jesus is alive!(You can find out how they chase Jesus' followers all over the place in the book of Acts) This is like saying air doesn’t exist but you’re breathing air and this is what speaking against the BIGGEST MIRACLE DONE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALL ABOUT! *spits~ I’ll just call them nuts.

Hey you may be laughing or chuckling now, but this is the unforgivable-impossible-to-save sin. You might have witnessed the work of the power of the Holy Spirit, but you could have still, in your stiff-necked-block-headedness, turn away from the truth.

Are you guilty of unbelieving? Doubting the move of the Spirit? Saying something against the faith of Christians with whom we might disagree? Hey I'm not saying I'm completely blameless or holy, just to pose a few questions to ask ourselves.

Think about it. Sometimes we might be playing “fair is foul and foul is fair” when we don’t know it.

Note to readers: if you’ve never experience this awesome truth of God’s saving grace in your life, there’s the “ABCs” of Salvation at the end of my previous blog post "Exposing Christianity".
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If you want to rededicate your life to God, get help from a fellow Christian you can trust, or leave me a comment, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.