John 16:1-4 (NIV)
1 "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.
2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.
4 I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.
People do many things in the name of God without knowing God. Jesus was speaking of those in His day that claimed to be God’s chosen ones, yet would see killing someone who disagrees with what they believe as a service to God. They even killed God’s own Son for this reason.
That same darkness flourishes today. People kill other people in God’s name, but not for God as revealed in His Word. Many attend church in God’s name, but are not filled with the Spirit. There are some who claim to be Christians but will say there is more than one way to God.
God allows this for His purpose. He does not seek that anyone would perish, but that all would come to Him. But the time He allows for the choice of salvation will not go on forever.
Jesus said that anyone receiving Him receives the Father. Anyone rejecting Him rejects the Father.
The Word of God reveals the characteristics and qualities of the ones who know God and are known by Him. Jesus embodied them and revealed them to us. Murder is not one of them. Actions that are not based on love do not come from God and do not serve Him. What they serve is something or someone else.
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