Anathema Maranatha!

by David J. Stewart
 

 "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." -1st Corinthians 16:22

       The word "anathema" means "cursed."  The word "Maranatha" means "the Lord is coming."  The Word of God is saying that if anyone does not want to get saved, then let him be cursed because the Lord is coming.  You can try to warn people, but they ultimately must make the decision to accept or reject Christ as their own personal Saviour.  If we warn people of the judgment to come and they laugh in our faces, then they are choosing to go to hell by their own freewill.  They will be cursed to burn in hell if they don't become born-again. 

 "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." -Titus 3:10-11

People may sometimes swear at us and curse God when we witness to them (which I had happen last weekend), but they are the one's who will be the losers when they die without Christ in their sins.  I say that kindly.  I was courteous to the unsaved man and prayed for him as I was leaving, but he is making a horrible decision.  Did you know that no one goes to hell by mistake?  It's true!  No one accidentally goes to hell, people decide to go there by deciding to reject Christ as their Saviour.  If Jesus is not your Saviour, then your sins have not been forgiven yet and you are still under the condemnation of God's Law.  If you die in your unrepentant state, you WILL go straight to hell when you die to pay for your own sins.  Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart? 

A "heretick" is an unsaved person.  The Bible says that if someone has witnessed to you at least twice but you refuse to get saved, then you are subverted.  The word "subverted" in this passage of Scripture in the Greek means "to change for the worse, pervert, corrupt."  Hence, people who repeatedly reject the gospel are corrupted within their own heart.   Is God saying that we should give up on people?  Of course not!  Look back to Titus 3:9 please.

 "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain." -Titus 3:9

 I don't believe we should ever throw people away by giving up on on them, but God does NOT want us wasting our time trying to win over stiff-necked unbelievers when there are so many people in this world waiting to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is what the Apostle Paul meant here in Titus 3:10-11.  Our time is short upon the earth and we must use our resources wisely for God.  Arguing only sheds more heat than light when sharing the Bible with people.  It's ok to argue if the conversation is beneficial, but trying to reason with belligerent people is simply a waste of time.  I simply won't let the conversation go there!  If a person does not want to trust Christ as Saviour after a couple conversations, then they simply don't want to get saved.  Arguing is an enjoyable sport to some people.

The world spends billions of dollars on silly and foolish things.  I recently read an article in the newspaper which displayed a diamond designer hat worth $2,700,000!  How many missionaries could that money support?  All that money wasted for one hat!  We may not have the large sums of money that the heathen do, but friend...the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof (1st Corinthians 10:26).  God will provide for our needs, even though the world would just as well we perished from off the face of the earth.

 "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." -1st Corinthians 16:22

All we can do is witness to lost sinners of the saving power of the gospel of Christ Jesus.  Only God can save a soul.  We go soulwinning to LEAD people to Jesus Christ, but we can only bring them to the Master.  As the saying goes..."You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it."  We can bring people to the throne of grace, but we can't save them.  Each individual must deal directly with God in their heart.  If a person wants to hear the gospel...amen!  If a person does not, then the Bible says let them be ANATHEMA MARANATHA!  Let them be cursed for the Lord cometh!

In Jesus' name,

David J. Stewart