Isa 44:19
No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding.......(NIV)
One day I was sitting in a church and listening to a
speaker and I noticed a statement being made that everyone seemed to agree
with, yet in my mind I could not think of any biblical proof to back any such statement.
I
grew up in church and have found this to almost be a norm. It is like another speaker I heard say, “It
is a lack of faith to ask questions”. Since when! In the opening verse the prophet Isaiah is
talking about people who build their own gods.
The statement is being made that they are not thinking about what they
are doing and they lack knowledge. I have
come to see that in many churches and many Christians have mad their own
god. They worship, talk about, and even
pray to a god they do not know or understand.
They have never truly read their bibles with open minds and
understanding. They depend on a modern charismatic
leader to paint them a picture of a God that is neither scriptural nor
true. The other side of this coin is a
group of people who have known nothing other than what was handed down for
generations never questioning their picture of God even when it makes no since.
We call that traditional Christianity or Orthodoxy.
Let me share a couple of stories to help make my
point. In the churches I used to be a
part of there was a story told that we all would share for a good laugh. I am not sure if it really happened, but none
the same it helps with my point. There was a well known speaker who let’s say
was quit colorful and liked to call people out and speak a word of prophesy
over them. We could probably say most
was never true. One night he called a
lady out of the crowd, and proceeded to tell her that God was going to keep and
bring her son home save from Vietnam
The next story happened to me. One night after I had spoken
a person approached me during a time of fellowship. She had a question for me about something she
wanted to know how I believed. It was an
age old end time question and I always like to have dialogue, but this one I
tried to avoid using a little humor.
This only angered her and she pushed for a more direct answer. I could see that unless I gave the answer she
wanted she was not going to be happy. So I gave a very generic answer leaning
towards my understanding of scripture. (Now I am not saying I have all the
right answers this not my point) This lady jumped up with anger in her voice and
said “My daddy preached under the anointing it this way and that is the way we
have always believed it, so it must be true”. With as calm of a voice I could,
not to respond in like manor I said “what one may perceive as an anointing or
speaking from years of traditions does not make it biblical truth”. She spun
around and stormed out of the place and began to stir up trouble.
You see they both had a wrong perception of God so we
could contend they had mad a false god that they worshiped. One was from an
unreal and man made understanding of God, and the other from a traditional
understanding that was handed down for generations, never questioning even if
there would be contradictions to what they believed.
You see in early church history, the organized
church preyed on the people’s ignorance.
There were no printed bibles, and they forced them to believe what was
preached, by fear of punishment or excommunication. I mean real punishment, like burning at the
stake, torture until confession of wrong, or life long imprisonment. Today we
may not see it in that extreme, but the tactic has not changed. Just today they
use hell, or curses from God, such as bad things are happening because.
Today we have a Bible and a wealth of good history. We have no excuse for not seeking truth. You do not have to be a bible scholar to dig
into God’s word and read material to help you understand God and His
truth. God is not a strange mystery that
we can not know Him and who he really is.
Paul told the Corinthian church that, in his first letter to them in the
second chapter. We need to pursue God
and His Son Jesus. Even Jesus had always
and will forever point us to the Father.
God created man with a brain and the ability to
reason, and think. We find that evident
in how many biblical characters used their minds. Just think about it Adam named all the living
creatures.
When we listen to others, even spiritual leaders make
sure you are not deceived by their great speeches, use of scripture and words. Don’t get hung up with religious traditions
when reading the bible. Are you really
looking for truth? Do you really want
Godly knowledge? Are you willing to ask questions when it does not make
sense? I am not saying we throw out all
our traditions, but if they are standing in the way of finding truth then maybe
it is time to kick them to the side.
Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us
reason together, says the Lord..... God
was pleading with His nation Israel
2Ti 2:15
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God
approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly
analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully
teaching] the Word of Truth. (AMP)
