Have you ever dreamed about being as bold as Martin Luther? There are times I want to nail a list of errors onto the corrupted organization of religion we call church. We really have drifted away from scripture and I think Jesus would separate Himself from much of the activities of the modern church.
I have been disoriented in the last few days. I had a conversation with a young man. We were discussing the sermon by Johnathan Edwards, Sinner in the Hand of an Angry God. I happen to love that sermon because it encouraged me to revere and fear the Lord. This young man claimed that this sermon was evil and not a good representation of the compassionate heart of Jesus. I will allow him to believe this and I don't disagree with him completely.
But, then he made this comment. "Hell does not exist yet. It will be created after the last judgment day." I had never heard of this concept. This young man was convinced that hell was for the future and people were not suffering in hell at this moment. They were in a holding cell waiting for the final day of judgment. I understand why he believed this in light of some chapters in Revelation. But, I can also dispute this claim with stories from the Old Testament. This conversation sent me into a frustrating conversation with myself.
To understand my frustration you may want to read Isaiah chapter one. I am tired of going to church, singing repetitive worship songs, attending Bible studies, and still not knowing Jesus. People want unity so desperately that they have given up on absolute truth. We create various versions of the Lord to keep ourselves comfortable. We delude ourselves into thinking that if God works in mysterious ways we will never fully know Him. The phrase "God works in mysterious ways" is not even a Bible verse. It is a cliche that leaders use to excuse their laziness in seeking the Lord.
I think God has started to dull the minds of most. He has made us blind and we have become comfortable in our blindness. We may be passionate about what we believe. We may hold to an opinion with stubbornness and assurance. But so does the next guy who believe the complete opposite! Passion and confidence does not make us right. It only deludes us into thinking we must be right.
We are in a critical hour. Will we attach ourselves to the current church with hope that God is behind her? Will we accept others into the fold even if they believe differently than us? Will we become extreme, conservative, and stubborn and miss the compassion of Jesus? Will we find comfort in a corporate setting or cling to our individuality on the basis of principle? I do not know what my next steps are. I don't know because I believe there is a famine of the word of the Lord. Our idols have hidden us from God.
5 comments:
As long as we depend on Jesus Christ to get through this life, there is no cause for concern. The joy of the Lord is our strength as long as we do not compromise. It is therefore required of us to present ourselves to God for constant examination in light of "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall "I Corinthinas 10: 12). Our examples include Noah, Job, Daniel, Hananiah, Shadrach, Mishael, and many more, who were minorities in their generations and yet stood uncompromisingly for God in the face of ferocious circumstances.
If holding unto individuality means standing for the absolute truth of God, there is nothing wrong with that. Daniel and his colleagues did that. The Rechabites did the same thing, "And I set before the sons of house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying, Ye shall drink no wine neither ye, nor your sons forever...Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Becuase ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hasth commanded you: Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever" (Jeremiah 35:6-19). Even our Lord Jesus Christ did not seek to descend so low as so unify himself with the derailed spiritual people (leaders and their followers) of his earthly ministry time nor did his disciples seek cooperation with those derailed people after the physical departure of our Lord. Yet, the disciples threw the door open for willing people to come to Jesus Christ for salvation, not to unite with people that professed to be of God and reject the absolute truth of God. Wherever we find ourselves as Christians, it is important to pay attention this warning, "The scribes and the Pharisees - derailed spiritual people - sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe (the absolute truth of God), that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not" Matthew 23:3).
Unity should be sought with those who unquestionably accept the absolute truth of God while showing love to believers and unbelievers without graduating sins into godliness, either because of relatives or friends. For example that taking alcohol, using abortive contraceptives, smoking is not sinful for many “Christians” even though the Bible says, “And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, abortion through pills and abortive contraceptives today, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan (inordinate pleasure and selfishness today): and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions {(of smoking, sinful alcohol taking, birth control when the Bible says, “Abstain from all appearance of evil” - appearance not just evil/sin itself - (I Thessalonians 5:22)}. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them” (Psalm 106.:38-40) If Christian unity was to be sought with all professed Christians, all humans as the works of God should also come together no matter what they choose to do??? In this regard, the Bible warns us not to be unequally yoked. For sure, the gospel will continue to be corrupted. However, the absolute truth of God remains the same. It is left for each generation to depend on God and figure out whether this is true of them, “…the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit (Jeremiah 16:19-20).
While our God is merciful and loving, He has not commanded us to avoid preaching about heaven and hell, holiness and sin. While preaching about sins, it is important to name them so that people may know where they are. On hell, whether people believe in hell (Luke 16: 22-23) or not, we must preach it and depend on God to help them rather than wait for their doom. No reasonable, competent medical doctor will deny his patient information about his health, even if that information is about a terminal health problem. Our comfort is Jesus Christ, and we comfort people by telling them that Jesus will accept them if they are willing to lay all on the altar and accept, while depending on God, to follow Christ in His own terms and conditions, not based on humanly created terms and conditions of convenience.
Since I know that I am still in this world, I daily confess my helplessness to God to help me live as he desires because of “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall "I Corinthinas 10: 12).
What a great source of encouragement your (Tamara) blog messages have been to me. I thank God for your sincere heart toward God. The battle is not over until it is over.
Kunle
I'm not very familiar with that sermon although I've heard of it before.
You've mentioned a couple of things that I want to look into before I can offer a comment toward it.
I looked for the "mysterious ways" to find text on it. There is a version, NLT that says, "Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, you work in mysterious ways." Is. 45:15 By no means, am I saying that the phrase is not cliche.
Oh and are you going/coming to the Jewish service on Friday night? We'll be there.
I have to say that I think that sermon is incredible. I think it does show the compassionate, loving heart of God. Just not in a wishy-washy way that so many people prefer.
Teresa- I only mention this because it is my preference. I don't consider the NLT an accurate translation. I never use it and when First Assembly posts the NLT version on the screen I always refer to my NASV or ESV. I looked up the Hebrew translation for your verse and here is what it said:
to hide, conceal
a) (Niphal)
1) to hide oneself
2) to be hidden, be concealed
This means that God hides himself. This can also be construed as mysterious. But, my point remains. Even if God is mysterious and if he hides Himself this does not mean we can use this verse to justify laziness. Your Isaiah verse proves a point I was making. God is not easily assessable. The reason people have so many different opinions about God is because GOD chooses to distance Himself from His creation. (For whatever reason) This is what frustrates me. I am not upset that people have differing views. I wanted to focus on the fact that God is the one confusing me. He has decided to remain anonymous.
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