I thought it was a divine revelation, a visitation from the Holy Spirit. A skeptic challenged me and a long conversation ensued. I found myself saying things I had never put into words and a rapid shift in perception occurred. I had this certainty, the Lord was moving me to a higher plane. It seemed to have been from the Lord. . . until I started reading the Bible and found out differently.
The Gospel Saves Posts
I’m ok, you are ok… The ecumenical movement is, without a doubt, appealing to most of us. We know and love God fearing people, “good people”, all around us that practice false and destructive doctrines. It is hard to accept that unless we are able to help them find the truth they will go to Hell.
1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”
Let all things be done for edification. The word “edification” is a word that is not used very often. In fact, I would venture to say that many people are unfamiliar with the word. It is not commonly used and therefore it is not commonly understood.
Too often I hear complaints such as “I don’t get anything out of the service”, “the church’s worship doesn’t inspire me” or “church is boring”. I wish I could say that I don’t relate to these complaints, but the fact is I do. I’ve felt those same things before and the only conclusion I could draw to fix the problem was that something needed to change.
The Apostle Paul began his stirring speech to the idolatrous people of Athens with this preface: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you…” (Acts 17:22-23)
In II Samuel 6 David makes preparations to bring the Ark back from Baale Judah to the Temple, where it belonged. David, accompanied by thirty thousand men, went down to the house of Abinadab and set the Ark on a new cart to transport it. Steering the Ox cart were two men, Uzzah and Ahio (the sons of Abinadab). Ahio went in front of the Ark, and Uzzah followed behind the Ark. This large procession sang and danced, joyfully carrying the Ark back to its proper place. However, along the way (at Nachon’s threshing floor), the oxen stumbled. In an attempt to steady the Ark and make sure it would not fall, Uzzah reached out and put his hand on the Ark. Immediately God’s anger was aroused against Uzzah and God struck him dead.
Concerning the co-existence of an all-powerful, loving, and good God with worldwide wickedness, the ancient philosopher Epicurus once mused: “Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or He can, but does not want to; or He cannot and does not want to. If He wants to, but cannot, He is impotent. If He can, and does not want to, He is wicked. But, if God both can and wants to abolish evil, then how comes evil in the world?” (Strobel, p. 25).
Anyone who professes Jesus Christ as their Savior would say that He is the authority for their lives. We would say His wisdom is greater than our wisdom, and our understanding must come from Him. Many similar conclusions spin off from this essential conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord. Then comes the rub. We either humbly submit to His authority, or we fabricate an image of Jesus that fits the way we want Him to be.