Posted by
flagwaver on Sunday, March 04, 2007 1:18:06 PM
Well it is almost Easter, so it must be time again for the requisite "Jesus wasn't God" mockumentaries and commentaries. And it is time for us Christians to get our undies in a bunch, get full of outrage, and stand to defend our God from these scurrilous attacks. But maybe we need to look at this from a different perspective; maybe we need to learn to rejoice in this type of attack.
See, when I was a kid going to church it seemed that every person that stood up to testify about what God meant to them, or what God had done for them ended by saying that we were "living in the last and evil days". As youngster, that kind of talk scared me to death because I thought the world was literally about to end; as I got older I began to discount such talk as almost superstitious, because i saw no signs that the last days were even close to us. Now, I have come to know that we are living in at least the precursor to the end times, if not the end times themselves...and I have no fear of it. I know that what God has ordained will come to pass, whether I like it, dislike it, or ignore it. It will come to pass, because God is who He says He is...and He reigns over all things!
We Christians sometimes spend so much effort and energy fighting off the attacks on the body of Christ, that we lose sight of the fact that this is how it is supposed to be, and how it is going to be. Matthew 10:16-39 tells us that we are going to be persecuted, even hated for His name's sake, so we need to learn to deal with it and see that it is part of God's perfect will. I know that being persecuted is not easy, nor am I saying that apologetics are no longer needed because they are, now more than ever. We need to be able to explain and defend our faith in front of the world, we need to know what we believe and why we believe it so that we can effectively lift up the name of Christ in this generation. What we don't need to do is worry ourselves about the reasons why the Church is under attack, or become defensive when talking about our Lord and Savior; we need to realize that all the things that we see happening before our eyes were foretold in the Scriptures.
We have been on notice that in the last days men would become lovers of themselves, that sexual perversions would flourish, that the Church would be under near constant attack, and that men would turn away from good doctrine in order to hear things that sound good to them. All of these things are signs that the end is nearer every day, and they are not reasons for fear, angst,or anger. They are in fact what we are to be rejoicing over as it signals that our Lord is soon to come to reclaim this fallen planet, and to take possession of His Bride. Instead of apprehension or fear, we should be looking hopefully towards Heaven every day secure in the knowledge that the Bridegroom is coming to claim His Bride!!
So while we continue to spread God's Word, and while we continue to defend the Gospel against heresy, division, and attack do not forget to rejoice in all things! It will be alright, sooner rather than later because God has ordained it to be so! He hasn't lied to us, and our faith will not be in vain.
Because HE REIGNS!!!!