{"id":109245,"date":"2021-01-16T04:31:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T10:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/?p=109245"},"modified":"2021-01-13T09:06:30","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T15:06:30","slug":"18-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/16\/18-t\/","title":{"rendered":"18.t.  &#8220;The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\">John 16:2<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:40.10.28\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Matthew 10:28<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:45.10.2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Romans 10:2-3<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God&#8217;s righteousness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:47.4.3\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>2 Corinthians 4:3-6<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.\u00a0\u00a0In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.\u00a0\u00a0For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus&#8217; sake.\u00a0\u00a0For God, who said, \u201cLet light shine out of darkness,\u201d has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"verseid:53.2.10\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>2 Thessalonians 2:10-12<\/b><\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,\u00a0\u00a0in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\">Wicked deception, established their own, did not submit, blinded, refused truth, perishing, and strong delusion are all Words used to speak of those who have the desire and find purpose fulfilling their worldly and selfish desires. All of us displayed some of these characteristics to some extent in our lives.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We were selfish, blind, deaf, and perishing in our sin, and yet, in God\u2019s grace, mercy, and love He pulled us out of this pit of destruction.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I have no earthly idea of how this is accomplished.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In my own life, I was very selfish and worldly.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I gave very little or absolutely no thought about God.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I can\u2019t even say for sure if I gave any thought about heaven or hell.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I am pretty sure I was void, blind, and deaf to anything of God.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Through an accident though God broke through.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I was not seeking Him.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I was not wanting to know Him.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I was not wanting to honor Him.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I was not wanting to obey Him.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>And yet, He broke through, showed, and allowed me to understand sin, my sin.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He allowed me to understand the need for Jesus Christ as redeemer and savior for the forgiveness of my sin. He gave me an understanding of heaven and hell. He gave me an understanding of truly being forgiven. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">While I was yet a sinner, blind, and deaf to things of God, Christ died for my sin.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He rescued me from the depths of hell while I was not even looking to be rescued.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I can\u2019t imagine how anyone could have been given this understanding of Christ and the need for redemption and salvation, and reject it or turn their back to it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>While I was yet a sinner, God opened my heart and mind to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He opened my understanding of the need for repentance, forgiveness, belief, faith, and trust. \u201cAmazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.\u201d <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">I do not understand how a person&#8217;s heart and mind can be opened by God to the need of Jesus Christ and reject it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Yet, it happens millions of times each day.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Hebrews 3:15<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cToday, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t see how it is possible, but people continue to harden their hearts and minds to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Eternity awaits us all.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The path to eternal life is through Jesus Christ alone.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>The path to eternal torment is to reject and deny the need for Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John 16:2\u00a0 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/16\/18-t\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;18.t.  &#8220;The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel&#8221;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4615,3259,2548,777,681,425,786,9595,4828,152,2905,416,4307,5381,3945,3838,283,14768,56,5320,2546,2542,189,550,130,468,4085,226,2547,2877,147,5380,1604,5379,2545,872,5048],"class_list":["post-109245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-blinded","tag-body","tag-condemned","tag-darkness","tag-destroy","tag-false","tag-fear","tag-glory-of-christ","tag-god-of-this-world","tag-gospel","tag-hearts","tag-hell","tag-ignorant","tag-image-of-god","tag-jesus-christ","tag-kill","tag-knowledge","tag-light-of-the-gospel","tag-love","tag-minds","tag-perishing","tag-pleasure","tag-proclaim","tag-remember","tag-seeking","tag-servants","tag-shine","tag-soul","tag-strong-delusion","tag-submit","tag-truth","tag-unbelievers","tag-unrighteousness","tag-veiled","tag-wicked-deception","tag-witness","tag-zeal"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109245"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109327,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109245\/revisions\/109327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}