The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Ezra 9:1-2, “Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, ‘The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites.
2 ‘For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.’”

The more we read the Bible, the more we realize that times have not changed! Oh, we live in different styled houses, drive automobiles (some of which actually drive themselves!), but inwardly – within ourselves — we’re much more like those of Ezra’s day than we think.

The people of Ezra’s day had standards for living –standards the LORD had given to His people. That is hardly strange. We think of how we want our children to live differently than some of those kids that live “on that other street” or only “two blocks away.” They speak differently, using unacceptable language. What’s more, they don’t go to Sunday School ever!

Still the LORD has strong and staunch standards –standards for living morally upright; standards that set a high mark for His people and for those who live near to His people.

Those pagan people –the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites— they were the eight nations, who lived nearby and cast an ungodly influence on the Israelites. Furthermore, they married Israelite women, resulting in an intermingling of foreign gods and affecting the beliefs of the LORD’s holy people!

Today’s world is no different! Satan has infiltrated many churches with immoral, self-called ministers, so that the ears of the people are being tickled with humanistic thought from pulpits that were constructed for the declaration of the Gospel. We are living in that very time foretold by Paul’s son, Timothy:

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for
themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will
turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths”
(2 Tim. 4:3-4).

If you’re affiliated with a church that denies or ignores the pure teaching of His Word, I urge
you to withdraw immediately! Prayerfully, search the Scriptures and affiliate with a church
with a Bible-teaching pastor! Remember those kids you didn’t want your kids to play with?
God has the same thought about you attending a non-Christian church.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom