Posted on 09/22/2001 10:00:05 AM PDT by BibChr
Christians are unpopular folks today. I mean by that, anyone who takes seriously biblical truth and biblical principles will find himself on the sharp end of angry stares if we dare speak the truth in the midst of today’s national crisis. To what do I refer? America has all of a sudden gotten very religious. There are vigils and candlelight prayer services on every corner. People who hadn’t said “God” except in profanity for years are all of a sudden very pious and reflective. Radio personalities who were focused upon tax cuts or some other political issue on Monday, September 10th are now mulling over the role of “evil” in our world. The past week has turned the landscape upside down in many ways, to be sure. Lest anyone think this new religiosity is a reason for rejoicing for Christians, it most surely is not. Oh yes, we are hearing old Christian hymns being sung. Ostensibly Christian churches were full this past Lord’s day. But there is no such thing as “partial Christianity,” nor is there any such thing as a Christianity that stands side by side with Islam, or Judaism, or Buddhism, and says, “We worship one God under many names.” And surely, there is no Christianity that does not speak of repentance from sin. The new religiosity of America has two basic foundational pillars: there is one God, unknown, but addressable under any variety of religious epithets, who has revealed absolutely nothing of objective value regarding His will regarding worship or human behavior; and second, this God has no wrath; knows nothing of sin or judgment; and hence, any person who dares to say that God would punish a person, or a nation, is a glowing heretic to the new American religiosity. The problem is easily seen: Christians believe, fundamentally, of necessity, that there is one true God. This true God is not Allah. This true God is not Krishna. This true God is not the god of Joseph Smith or Buddha or the Sikhs or the Bahais. Our God went to great lengths to differentiate Himself from all the gods of the peoples and religions that surrounded His ancient people, and that for a purpose He Himself proclaimed: He seeks true worship, worship based upon a knowledge of who He is in reality, based upon His revelation to man. He does not grant to man the freedom to make images of Him, to worship Him in a manner that pleases the creature rather than the Creator. God is particular about His worship. His worship is intimately, vitally connected to truth. Without truth, there is no worship of the Christian God. And the truth revealed by the Christian God in the Scriptures is without question when it comes to the matter of His law, sin, rebellion, punishment, wrath, and judgment. One of the most amazing things to observe is the willingness shown by “evangelicals” to jump right onto the “we shall never utter a word about wrath or sin or punishment” bandwagon. Is the remnant so small that almost no voices will be raised to cry out against this foolishness? To withhold the truth about sin and judgment out of fear of man’s opinions and feelings is to make the cross of Jesus Christ a travesty! There is no cross, there is no sacrifice, where there is no sin, no offense that demands forgiveness be wrought through His perfect sacrifice! The person who refrains from speaking of sin and judgment to “win” a person over is doing so through unfaithfulness to the very gospel itself! And to what has such a person been won over? Where is the gospel when there is no sin to be forgiven at Calvary? But it is right here that the new American religiosity clamps its hands over its ears and refuses to hear. America wants God’s blessing. America wants God to protect us from more horrific visions of airliners flying purposefully, relentlessly into our national monuments. We want God to be near us as we board our aircraft. We want Him to protect us from the horror of thinking about what it was like when the towers collapsed. We want Him to guide our military and allow us to flex our muscle and launch our missiles with impunity. We want a blessing God, a caring God, who simply panders to our wants and whims. This is the “God” of the new American religiosity. But what America does not want is a God who is holy, who is just, and who has revealed His will concerning how we, His creatures, are to live. America is a land soaked in blood. We glory in violence. We are so selfish, so bound in our avarice, fornication, and sexual lust, that we murder our own offspring in the womb (or at birth as in partial-birth infanticide). Our hands are covered in blood, and yet we think lighting a candle and lifting them up while mumbling “God Bless America” is going to bring God’s favor? Listen to the words of God to another nation that likewise was “religious” but refused to hear the word of repentance: “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.” (Isaiah 1:15). Is America so arrogant, so utterly self-absorbed, so diseased by religious liberalism and philosophical subjectivism, that she thinks she can ignore all of history itself and demand from God blessings when she refuses to repent of her evils? Do we really need to be reminded that Planned Parenthood has killed more little children in our land in the week since the attacks than died in the attacks themselves? Are we so blind? Surely the scourge of abortion would be enough to warrant the unleashing of the wrath of God, but there is so much more! We are a nation on a crusade—a crusade to wipe from our history books every vestige of our former religious past. The religion of scientism, with its chief idol in the person of Darwin, has become enshrined in our very governmental policies. There is no creator, we are told, to express His law for us in the first place. We want to banish God and His law from our courtrooms, our schools, our every public institution. If God says it is wrong, we celebrate it. Every form of sexual debauchery is found in the land. The airwaves are filled with programs that exalt fornication and adultery. Major film stars are lauded for the most sinful lifestyles. Homosexuality is not only turned into an acceptable “lifestyle,” it is made a political right, a political force, a test-case for being properly “tolerant.” The list goes on and on and on. The widow and orphan is oppressed, while the nation indulges in every creature comfort, sits back in its luxury, looks about upon the bounty of the land, and says, “Ah, what the labor of my own hands, my own intelligence, my own insight, has accomplished.” Religious liberals may mock our “literalistic” reading of the Bible at this point, preferring to simply label us “fundamentalists” and ignorant, but the fact of the matter is, they know they could never win a scholarly debate on whether the Bible actually teaches that these things are sins which must, inevitably, bring God’s judgment upon a people. They know that is exactly what the Bible teaches. They are just embarrassed by it, and hence seek to suppress that truth. As I said, Christians who believe the Bible are an unpopular lot today. If they speak in accordance with the Word they may well find themselves being called "unpatriotic" and "judgmental.". In fact, given that the new orthodoxy demands of us the confession “Everyone is God’s child” over against such clear biblical teaching as John 1:12 (remember how Christians refused to say “Caesar is lord” and died as a result?), we must be ready to “count the cost” in engaging in formal, cultural “heresy” by speaking the truth. We need to realize: this new American religiosity can take on the same kind of fanatic zeal that kept the hi-jackers’ hands steady all the way to their end. May God grant His people the strength to proclaim loudly God’s demands upon a wicked nation, and may He be pleased to bring repentance and revival in a land where darkness reigns.
I am the way the truth and the life; NO MAN cometh unto the Father BUT BY ME." --Jesus Christ, Matthew:
Jesus speaking
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: 1 depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Revelations 3:15-16
Again gods words.
15 I know your works and that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot.
16 So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
The last is to a church btw . These go for everyone .
I am to share the Truth and bring souls to heaven . To watch out for my fellow brethren that they may not stumble . To follow that which Jesus taught as well as maintain my Life (Relationship) with God .
Jude 20-25
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 On some have compassion making a distinction;
23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by flesh .
I like this prayer in Jude so I'm putting it here to share with others as well.
Glory to God
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and magesty, dominion and power, both now and forever Amen .
Anyways, acts don't save anyone, the "soul" if Christianity is in a relationship with the One true king that is Jesus .
Religion, is crap .
Only repentence from sin and acceptence of the Truth may one be with God . This is an open ticket for anyone willing to ride .
Cheese.
I am the way the truth and the life; NO MAN cometh unto the Father BUT BY ME." --Jesus Christ, Matthew:
Jesus speaking
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: 1 depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Revelations 3:15-16
Again gods words.
15 I know your works and that you are neither cold nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot.
16 So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
The last is to a church btw . These go for everyone .
I am to share the Truth and bring souls to heaven . To watch out for my fellow brethren that they may not stumble . To follow that which Jesus taught as well as maintain my Life (Relationship) with God .
Jude 20-25
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 On some have compassion making a distinction;
23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by flesh .
I like this prayer in Jude so I'm putting it here to share with others as well.
Glory to God
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and magesty, dominion and power, both now and forever Amen .
Anyways, acts don't save anyone, the "soul" if Christianity is in a relationship with the One true king that is Jesus .
Religion, is crap .
Only repentence from sin and acceptence of the Truth may one be with God . This is an open ticket for anyone willing to ride .
Cheese.
Look, I agree with a lot you folks have to say. And [almost] all of you are fine folks. But statements like those I quoted are what piss me off. The sentence essentially says, "We read it and do what is says." Well, I read it too. That's not the problem. The problem is reading it and knowing what it DOES say. That's where well-intentioned people disagree.
For those that assert what the man claims, it is wrong. For those, like the writer, who assert that every disagreement is either misguided or caused by not reading the Bible (ignorance?), is just as wrong.
If you haven't reieved Jesus, it's as simple as asking Him in . Talking to Him is easy, it's the basis of what's called Prayer . No ritual needed . An example of this would be .(You can either use these words or another.) Jesus, come into my life, I realise that I have sinned and now repent to follow You . Wash me as pure as the driven snow so that I may be reborn into a life with You and be accepted by the Father . Father God, I thank you for your Son, that you sent Him to die for me, so that I may come to You and that I may recieve Your Holy Spirit . Amen .
Basic blue print . It's up to you wether you recieve Him or not .
Cheese .
And I just saw (and videotaped) blatant evidence ot that just now during the prayer service at the football stadium in NY.
Someone (a firefighter, I think), was introduced who got up and quoted the words of Paul in the last 5 verses of Romans 8 (verses 35-39).
Well .... all the words in those verses .... EXCEPT for one minor little detail; the last seven words in verse 39.
Of course that was done so as not to "offend" anyone.
I wonder if the young man who read those verses even knew that the last seven words were DELIBERATELY excluded. I'm betting he didn't.
I've been watching in vain for "the _whole_ Truth of God" to be spoken .... AT LEAST .... out of the mouths of those who profess to speak and teach in the name of the *Christian* God.
ESPECIALLY since, "Christianity ___IS___ the Lord Jesus Christ."
Oh yeah .... the part of verse 39 he quoted was: ".... nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God" but left out: "WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD."
Those who left out that part, fear men more than God.
Avoid bondage . Avoid crap .
Cheese .
Dale Jr. won!
Giving Him the finger as though He didn't know what He was doing is not a great survival skill. He happens to be The Boss. He also happens to have The Power to back up His position.
But He's interested in freely chosen Loving dialogue with Friends. Alas, relatively few seem eager to pay the price of giving up their pride and rebellion to have authentic intimacy with Him.
Personally, I think Pride is a more foundational and destructive evil than any you listed. . . . Pride, rebellion, idolatry, defiance--not good survival traits.
Many seem to sort of defiantly glory in giving God the finger and going their own way. I suspect that even they are full of inner angst and would prefer less pain in their lives.
Some are in great surface anguish as well and would give all they had to be free of values and habits at cross purposes with society and God's design. And they can be incredibly sensitive and kind.
In fact, I sometimes wonder how God will look at some such on the one hand and arrogant pharisees on the other. I think I know who'll be isolated furthest. . . . especially if one is repentant and the other self-righteous.
The Wesleyans were the first to make the mistake of regarding unrepentant homosexuals as Christians if they were nice and if they professed faith in Christ.
Now, most of the major denominations are defying God in this way. Please don't make that awful mistake thinking you are just opposing Pharisaic arrogance. That's an altogether different problem.
I just didnt want to leave you with the impression that this is totally true
The United Methodists like many main line churches has caved into political pressure..and stopped listening to Gods word..however the Weselyans,the Church of the Nazarene.the Free Methodists ,the Salvation Army..are all holiness Wesleyan Churches and would not admit to membership,let alone ordain unrepentant,practicing homosexuals..
Most of the Wesleyan,holiness family do not consider United Methodists Wesleyan anymore
RE all the above. . .
I don't want to encourage tab A in slot Z by any means. Things really do work better the way God designed them.
I do want to caution many believers who tend to look down their haughty noses at other believers about the other believers's WORSE sins--that many times--that is not God's perspective. He lumped cowards in with homosexuals in one Scripture.
Whether it is truly objectively possible for practicing homosexuals to be more loving than SOME practicing heterosexual believers--I'm not strictly sure in stict senses of the key words. But sometimes, it sure seems like it. And I'm not sure how God would view that except to be very grieved over both of them.
I say that in the sense that Love puts the other person's best interests first. Violating God's standards tends to do the opposite whether for upside down lust or arrogance. . . . which is usually the forerunner of all such lusts and other junk.
Love and peace.
What about covetousness?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.