Monday, July 18, 2005

# 25.A: God's Replacement

I am not sure if we who call ourselves Christians are aware that the Bible always speaks positively of the poor and harshly toward the wealthy, without exception and without mentioning the middle class (if there was such a class). Our attitude is just the opposite in our affluent culture of today. We envy the wealthy and desire to be like them, and loathe the poor, or at least don’t want to end up like them. What is the reason for this extreme difference/change in attitude? It seems something or someone is out of whack. Another attitude that has changed is how we treat our enemies. The New Testament in several places speaks of how we must have love for our enemies, yet nowadays we are ready to retaliate harshly against anyone who dares to cross us.

We Americans go one step further to protect our homeland. We even strike preemptively against anyone we think might be a threat to our national or personal security. Again, why this change in attitude? Aren’t we supposed to be a Christian nation? What I am about to write breaks my heart, but I must speak up. I am an American, born in America; all my life, I loved being an American and was proud of it. But at this time, I can’t say I am proud of being an American. My country offers many seemingly wonderful amenities in comparison to other nations. But with all that this country offers, the most prevalent of all is the desire and possibility to become wealthy.

When a desire for wealth comes before a desire for God and Jesus Christ, guess what? Wealth becomes our God. We have abandoned Jehovah God and made our god out of money. And for that reason, God for all practical purposes has abandoned this planet. That is a horrible thing to say, and I hope it isn’t true.

What should God do when He has been abandoned? Another reason for His displeasure is our mighty armed forces—the greatest in the world and the mightiest in all human history. Jesus said , “. . . for all who draw the sword, will die by the sword.” Matthew 26:52. Was He speaking about individuals or also nations? You will answer that correctly if you are familiar with the Old Testament. Also in Matthew 10:23, Jesus said, “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.” Jesus also speaks on the same subject in several other verses. According to the standards set in the New Testament, I ask this question: is this “Christian” country going in the right direction? God desires us to feel/be secure in His love and protection, and not in military might and money.

What I am afraid of is what God did to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Will He also do that to our great "Christian” country? Almost every time the nation of Israel turned its back on God, He would raise up a nation more wicked than them and devastate the whole Jewish nation almost to smithereens. This is also evident by the ten lost tribes of Israel. Where are they? Or are they in existence anymore? Judah is the only one left. When I see on TV the extreme unprecedented hatred bin Laden and other Arabs have toward America and Israel, I wonder if they are the ones that God is raising up to do us in. Don’t scare me, will you? Please send your comments; this post could affect all of us in America.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This might simplify things for you Al. God killed thousands of armies who tortured and enslaved its people, does the Red Sea ring a bell. Countries like N. Korea and Iraq are just like the armies who died at the hands of God. Al Politics can be confusing at times and deciding what social programs the government should spend more money on which one's to spend less on will make your head spin. All you can do as a Christian is focus on your primary purpose while supporting your FUNDAMENTAL Christian beliefs. The primary purpose of Satan is to prevent the spread of the Gospel and prevent souls from entering the Kingdom of Heaven, period! The primary purpose for Jesus Christ on earth was to die for our sins and to share the Gospel, period! It wasn't to feed the poor, end hunger, prevent war, make spears less accessible to criminals in Jerusalum, balance the Israeli budget or provide more jobs in the Gaza strip and if he could do all that he certainly wouldn't have done it if it meant supporting groups that would feed the hungry more but forbid the mention of Jesus Christ, That would spend more money on public school but remove the Ten Commandments from the classroom and forbid school prayer. That would be more tolerant but teach children that homosexuality is healthy and normal. That would be more sensitive to other religions but remove the word Christ from Christmas and forbid nativity scenes from public schools.

JC said...

g p, thanks for your comments. I agree with most of what you said. The only thing I would like to add, is a comments to this quote: “The primary purpose of Satan is to prevent the spread of the Gospel . . . .” And one of the main ways he does that is to spread a pleasing but false Gospel. He leaves-out or adds just enough to make the complete message a heresy. This is my holy- grail: to expose the fake and put-forth the New Testament version. I hope you are aware what modern Christianity preaches and what the New Testament teaches, don’t even have a slight resemblance.------My next addition would be where you said, Christ died for our sins and to spread the Gospel. I agree with that statement. Again, the gospel Christ taught is the one He wants to be spread. That is not happening. G p, read the book of Luke chapter 11 through 19, if you haven’t read it lately. There are about a dozen hard edged verses in those pages that are not being preached or spread in today’ Gospel. Again, thanks for your comments. Keep a critical eye on my blogs, that way you will keep me on my toes.

JC said...

anonymous, thanks for your harty comments. All I can say is that I whole heartedly agree with you. It could have been me who wrote your comments. Thanks. keep the comments coming.

Anonymous said...

Al,

You mention the New Testament over and over. What did you do the Old Testament? It’s what the New Testament was based on. When God found and saved me I received a thirst for God's word and so many good hearted Christians told me to start by reading John or start in the New Testament and I did. To my surprise it referred over and over to the Old Testament. So I decided go back to the basics and start with Genesis and went to Revelation. The New Testament made so much more since to me then.

I think your articles could be a blessing to many; it made me take a long hard look in the mirror and I don’t like what I saw.

You're the first conservative Democrat that I've ever came across.

JC said...

Scott, thanks for your incite. The reason I quote the New Testament more than the Old is because Jesus changed/explained so much of what the old Testament taught. They (Old Testament writers) could not understand or accept much of what Jesus taught because their hearts were hard, and they were not yet ready for Jesus’ advanced teaching which only someone as close to God as Jesus was, could teach.---------Yes, it is almost impossible to understand the New Testament without knowing what the Old consisted of. Above and beyond what Jesus taught, the Old Testament teaches us how God operates in many situations. Thanks again for your comment.

JC said...

Roland, thanks for your comments. My respoonce to your comments is this: if you haven't already read the blog: "American Democracies Fatal Flaws", That blog is extremely discriptive as to how I feel about our great country. Give me some comments on that blog if you wish. I am not extremely interested in pollitics, but what I see of this admistration is totally ungodly and immoral.

Anonymous said...

Al,

How did you fill about President Clinton?

JC said...

Scott, my feelings are divided about him. First, he is an extremely intelligent person, and appointed intelligent people to key positions that gave us a surplus in our budget. That was great. Then, in his personal life he gave Americas a go-ahead when it comes to immorality. That is a big injustice, especially for the young. What I admire about him is that he was able to stick it out against all odds during the investigation. Ususally I am for the underdog, and I saw his as an underdog. I wish him and his wife the best, but that will never erase the spiritual harm he has done to this country,even though it was heading in that direction. I think you read my democracy blog. that tells how I feel about this American Democracy. Thanks for asking.