Just in case there is any
doubt, Satan is still working day and night to make the sacrifice offered by
Jesus on the cross as ineffective as possible. While I would not even suggest
knowing the complete goals of Satan anymore than I know the completeness of
God, I can’t help but believe Satan is overjoyed when we speak against the
character of God! Being so accomplished in this task, well-minded Christian men
and women daily malign the character of God without so much as a glimpse of
reality when speaking of Godly things. As a people, claiming to be people of
God, something needs to happen so we are awakened from the secure feeling
trance of Satan lulling us into a pattern of artificial study where no learning
takes place.
In the past, I have spoken
harshly of my fellowship the churches of Christ and yet, everything I see
visiting other denominations shows me we are not alone in the attack Satan has
for Christians everywhere. We have bible classes, sermons and Christian
conferences every year and yet do we really learn much of anything we didn’t
know previously? How often do Christians truly dissect their beliefs to
determine if there is a true basis from God or rather an artificial belief based
in long held traditions? If we teach or carry on our traditions without
specifically claiming they are the will of men rather than God are we not in
danger of misleading some people who might go on to teach mans will rather than
the will of God?
While there are many areas,
possibly more than I have even considered, I can’t help believe Satan has taken
our greatest hope and turned it into the greatest weapon against God. We seem
to have a firm grasp of the “end game” and holding on to the promise of God, it
is not uncommon to hear men and women daily maligning the character of God!
Hopefully, if I were to walk up to another Christian and exclaim how God is
eager to see all of the wicked people punished in the cruelest manner, they
would be offended by my portrayal of God’s character. Would it be any less
offensive to say God delights in the punishment of the wicked? Was God
overjoyed following the flood? When He rained down fire on Sodom, was He
sitting back to enjoy the “wonderful” display of fireworks? As I’ve typed these
past few comments, I am almost totally disgusted to believe anyone would
believe this is a true characterization of God. Have we come to a point in our
existence where we now believe God is not saddened by the wickedness in the
world? Do we no longer believe our sin brings grief to the Holy Spirit? I
believe God took no delight in the destruction of the world with the flood and
the destruction of Sodom with fire. I also believe He will take no delight in
the final destruction of the wicked at judgment!
I once heard someone say, “nothing
in history was as destructive to Jews becoming Christians than the Crusades.” While I’m not necessarily convinced this the
greatest reason more people have not come to Christ, I can recognize how hard
it would be to put my confidence into a God who sanctioned this type of
activity.
I mentioned earlier how we
seem to have a firm grasp of the “end game” and our knowledge rooted firmly in
tradition and concepts created by man effectively transform us into a people,
much like those of the Crusades, describing God contrary to what we can see in
nature and learn about in the Bible. My grandfather did not know any better
when he turned to me after lighting a “bonfire” of brush and dead trees and
asking what I would think of being in the middle of the intense fire forever
and ever having to endure the pain for all time with no release. He told me
then how those not found in the Book of Life would experience exactly what he
described! Later, I discovered the concept of what became the “Hell Fire and
Damnation” sermons many still want to hear today.
I mentioned how my
grandfather (Papa) did not know any better and I am speaking of a date some
time in the mid 1960’s. I can make an excuse for him not knowing any better but
I can’t excuse people still believing the same thing today considering all of
the study accomplished and the wealth of information on this subject being
available to those who want to discover what the Bible has to say on the
subject instead of what men have taught throughout the centuries of our
existence. Should we not be asking the leadership in every one of our churches to
help guide us away from our ignorance? My question actually goes much deeper.
Why are we afraid to tear away the many barriers to a meaningful relationship
with God? Sadly, church leadership is not in the dark about these matters but
simply chooses to look the other way!
One of the common stories
told to encourage us to tell others of Jesus is the story where we find
ourselves in line at judgment some day with someone we knew in this life and
hearing him/her ask as they are thrown into the torture of hell for all time, “why
did you never tell me about Jesus?” We even have a song in many of our songbooks,
“You Never Mentioned Him To Me.” Very
common throughout our history, I’ll use the concept of teachers/leaders being
held to a higher level of accountability than everyone else out of context.
What would the picture look like at judgment with God asking, “why did you not
teach the truth of what I gave you so people could present a truthful
characterization of me before others?”
If Satan misses with this
weapon, he has another equal and deadly one at his disposal where so many of
us, eager to catch of glimpse of our final hope, jump quickly into faulty
belief on the flip side of punishment. Movies like “God Is Real” easily become
a “family affair” of refreshing Christian doctrine regardless of how many times
what is being shown and described fly in the face of what we can read in our
Bible. While I don’t/can’t deny what someone claims has happened in their
lives, I can take the advice given in the first century to test all things to
determine whether they are from God. How easy would it be for Satan to have us
experience something working to his benefit and yet appearing as if “an angel
of light” to be from God. We are a gullible people and wanting so desperately
to get a peek into the future plans of God we will fall for anything, which
seems reasonable and good.
All of this brings me full
circle back to the idea of losing my desire to study the Bible and other
religious works. Are we foolish to belief we can know nothing more of God? Even
as I have briefly discussed two areas where we have failed in Christian circles
to educate our family, I am considering how women are still held in bondage to
our past as lower level Christians. I find it difficult to accept the emphasis
of our Bible on serving when so many of our churches are still concerned with
who takes a leadership role in serving. Yes, we find it difficult to emulate
Jesus, taking the lowest possible position by choice. Just random thoughts, but
to some people, I’m sure the concept is that Jesus was alright with taking the
lowest position among men as long as He still positioned Himself in power above
any women present.
It is a difficult thing to
realize how wrong I’ve been in the past as I learn new things. It is even more
difficult to consider other areas of my Christian heritage and study to see
what I have missed in these other areas. I’m not yet consumed with the idea of
study on prayer but I have discovered some potential problems with how we view
prayer, wondering why we neglect the words of Jesus when asked about how to
pray. Am I simply going to discover something no one cares to examine in light
of what we already know? The most difficult part of learning is trying to
quench the fire of God burning within because few desire to stretch into areas
already settled in the past.
