"I Have Sinned,
And I Admit I'm Stubborn..."

HERE is no need for me to go into the details here.   You can likely guess anyway, since you have most likely fallen victim to the same temptations and impulses yourself.

    Suffice it to say that they are the same as what most people experience.   The important thing is the intent, and taking action, to prevent any recurrence while being fully sorrowful over the fact of having strayed and sinned in the first place.

    Of course, in the world's eyes sin is sometimes a subjective moral interpretation, which today has become relative, and not well defined.

    The scriptural definition of sin, however, reveals it for what it truly is, in concrete and undeniable terms:

"Sin is breaking the law; in fact sin is lawlessness" (I "John" 3:4).

    By law, this doesn't mean man's laws, but rather the Creator's Law; such as the Ten Commandments, and this includes His statutes and judgments.

    That moral code, as given through Moses, sets forth the conditions for humanity's relationship with their Creator and with each other.

    And no substitute, not even one masquerading as superior or prior to this law (but in fact, which came through Nimrod and ancient Babylon -- such as the wicked "Noahide" law now embraced by presidential fiat of "executive order," which will once again enforce beheading) can ever take its place, or prevent justice from prevailing in the end.

    Is obedience to our Creators being somehow "stubborn," or is it really disobedience that is true stubbornness?

    Stiff-necked rebels against their Creators' commandments level the accusation of "stubborn" against anyone who refuses to budge, or give way, and does not join their growing disobedience "club."

    Yes, that's stubbornness, but being stubbornly obedient to our Creators' will is far different from the kind of stubbornness that refuses to repent of sinful, self-destructive, commonplace carnal conduct.

    In a similar way, the Creators themselves could be called stubborn, because -- for all who refuse to repent of their carnal stubbornness -- in the end, their penalty of death in the lake of fire awaits all the unrepentant wicked.

Clearing the Field

    When you garden, does it bother you to clear away and burn all the weeds, hurtful thorns and briers into the fire, reducing them to ashes?

    It's the same with people who know they must bathe.

    To you, all the dirt in the world doesn't matter, because when you bathe you simple wash off that dirt, and you don't shed any tears when all that stubborn filth washes down the drain.

    Human life, to our Creators, is similar to a potter's project.   He does his best to form and shape the clay into the vessel he chooses, some of which will serve noble purposes, others ignoble ones (for instance, you wouldn't think of drinking water from a toilet bowl, yet it is made from the same ceramic clay as a pitcher that keeps your drinking water cool or your tea warm.

    Should the clay prove unsuitable -- if it should harden or crack, or become too stubborn to be molded and shaped according to the potter's wishes -- does the potter shed any tears over scraping his failed attempts, and throwing them onto the rubbish heap?

    Of course not.   Instead, he takes great joy from those pieces he is successful in creating, and soon forgets all about the lost efforts and time wasted on all the failed and imperfect attempts.

    I suppose you could say that our Creators are stubborn in the exact same ways as the potter (cf. Isaiah 29:16, 41:25, 64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-6; Lamentations 4:2; Romans 9:19-23; Revelation 2:26-27).

    That's why He washed all the filth of human wickedness away with the great flood in Noah's day, and that's why He will also do the same to this modern age -- this time with fire -- when He will no longer tolerate mankind's stubborn persistence in sinful conduct (Jeremiah 18:7-12).

    Why would our Creators shed any tears, come the Great White Throne Judgment Day, over discarding all of their failed attempts to perfect obedient heirs for their perfect Kingdom on earth, when they will instead be rejoicing over the brilliantly glittering jewels they have perfected from their stubbornly obedient children?

    Our Creators prefer the wheat, and not the chaff.

    So what is all the chaff to them, but fuel for the fire of judgment that will obliterate all remembrance of stubborn pride, vanity, arrogance, wicked lust and perversion, selfish desires, greedy avarice, lying accusations, destructive and militant rebellion and warmongering, thieving robbery, over-taxation, and drug addictions, among all the other vices so commonplace today? 

    None who remain alive once all the smoke of fiery judgment clears will shed any tears over the final demise of wickedness, when the stubbornly wicked are totally and permanently removed from the world, never to darken it again with their evil ways.

    They will rejoice instead, to be alive in a peaceful, blessed and perfect paradise without all the troubles, heartaches and tearful fears caused formerly by their stubborn false accusers, attackers, enemies without just cause, and disdainful, vicious neighbors, relatives, acquaintances, fellow-countrymen or women, foreign invaders, or officials, leaders and media run amok.

    Woe to all who remain stubbornly unrepentant.

    Woe indeed to the stubbornly wicked, whose time on earth is nearly over, despite their seeming power and alleged might.

    Blessed salvation will be the reward of all who are stubbornly obedient to the despised and hated but apt pure truth, regardless of the obstacles littering their persecuted path to perfection and perfect obedience, who humbly admit their sins and repent of them in remorse, resolved to overcome their flaws and shortcomings through the Savior and heavenly Father's merciful forgiveness, guidance and protection.

    Which kind of stubborn are you?  Which would you rather be when all is said and done?