There is a very thought-provoking quote by Charles Finney, considered the father of modern revivalism in America, that really motivates me: "If Christians were not such cowards, and absolutely disobedient to this plain command of God (´Surely rebuke your neighbor who sins or you will be equally as guilty as him´ Lev. 19:17 ), one thing would certainly come of it --- either they would be murdered in the streets as martyrs, because men could not bear the intolerable presence of truth, or they would be speedily converted to God."
Wow, now that´s a mouthful! Finney believed that if we are truly fulfilling the command of God, there could only be one of two responses -- people will either want to stone us, or they will fall under conviction and get ´saved.´ Either, or.
The bottom line though, is WHAT IS the Command of God? What is the ´truth´, the ´whole truth´ and ´nothing but the truth´ of God´s Word? And herein lies the subtle conspiracy; when people cannot be swayed from believing in the ´One True and Only God´ by the enemies of God, then the attack has to be directed at the ´Word of God´ and that ´Word´ has to be undermined. That ´Word´ has to be compromised. That ´Word´ has to be questioned. Hence, we are presented with ´The DaVinci Codes´ and many other such false theories that sound so intelligent, seem to be historically accurate and are so convincing that people are getting duped.
These dangerous heresies purport to be factual but we see that ´history´ cannot even agree as to what happened as recently as 1963 when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, even though most of us were there to see it for ourselves.
So once someone discredits the authority of God´s Word, or casts doubt on it´s validity, they can then preach according to their own whims and fancies and live and behave any way they like, encouraging multitudes to do the same.
One thing is certain, God is not a God of confusion. He says that He is the ´same yesterday, today and forever.´ He does not change and He is certainly a big enough God to protect and guard His word from being changed, distorted or abolished. As a matter of fact He has a severe warning for those who would tamper with it. The very last words in the bible state in Revelation 22:18, ´For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (NKJV)
So let me encourage you to dust off that big, old bible you have stashed away in some corner somewhere and find out God´s slant on the things going on in this world and in your life in particular, because He has plenty to say. The problem is that most do not want to know His opinion. They would rather pursue things like Halloween.
Normally, every time October rolls around, I´ve made it a point to address Halloween but I think I´ll just skip it this year. I mean, after nine years and as many articles on this diabolical event, WHAT more could I possibly say? If people don´t have a problem with celebrating a day designated unequivocally to Satan, a day set aside as his holiday, a day set aside to honor horror, death and a being whose foremost goal is to cause them misery, pain and destruction, then nothing I say at this point could possibly matter. I´m just wasting oxygen and ink.
Even after all the shocking facts that I have presented over the years, about the origin, purpose and sinister significance behind Halloween, people will still come up to me and say, "But, we don´t dress in scary costumes, we dress as biblical characters!"
With that kind of reasoning they would probably defend ´Christian pornography´ as well because everyone involved was going to wear a cross around their necks and they were going to pray first.
Don´t laugh, this is what people have said to me in defense of ´Christian Yoga.´ They say it is merely a stretching exercise that they are doing while meditating on Jesus and do not want to even consider documented evidence to the contrary that shows they are actually practicing New Age Eastern mysticism. The fact that each position or posture in yoga is an exact expression of worship directed at a particular Hindu deity to whom they are actually bowing in worship, leaves them undaunted. Shrugging their shoulders they spew some gobbly gook in defense of their latest ´Christian fad;´´ not realizing they are indoctrinating themselves right into the New Age religion which certainly does not comply with a born again, spirit filled, baptized in the Holy Ghost believer who thinks they are living for the God of the Bible. And if these folks think that the differences pertaining to all of the above are trivial or inconsequential, I would ask them to seriously heed the warning and reaction of the apostle Paul, when he saw what was happening even back in his day, "God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear." (Romans 11:8 NKJV)
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