Monday, February 19, 2007

# 188: Invisible Substance

One dangerous aspect of all religions is that many of us make up our gods and then fabricate the rules to live by, or have them made up for us by our favorite churches, according to the gods of their liking. As time passes, those of us who take this action will truly believe in the actual existence of our contrived gods. Who can convince us we are hallucinating? Hopefully the real God. Belief is extremely powerful and addicting. To make matters worse, we give our gods honorable names such as Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Almighty Creator, Divine Deity, Supreme Being, Jesus Christ, Lord, Savior and many, many more.

1st Corinthians 8:5. “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but ONE GOD, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we live . . .” [Emphasis added]. Then those who don’t know what that ONE GOD requires can easily be tricked into believing in the god of this age (Satan), who masquerades as an angel of light without giving anyone a clue of his trickery. 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.” Also see 2nd Corinthians 11:14. “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

For those of us who want to make sure we are worshiping the Creator of all things and not some other phony-baloney god, there are ways to make absolutely certain we are not being tricked. The very first attribute of the genuine God is that He is a God of love; said another way, the eternal God’s complete nature and essence is love, to the point where it is accurate to say, “God is LOVE.”

How will we know if our God is the genuine loving God? Answer: He will command—better yet, demand—those who worship Him to live lives of love for Him and for others in need, even love for those who mean to do us harm. That God whose most basic and essential quality is love, is a great indication he is the only true God. Having or earnestly desiring the true God’s quality of love is required by Him from those who worship Him. That love is not just sweet words of love, but actually active love. If that active love, as described in the loving God’s instruction book/s, is missing in anyone’s life and that person still claims to believe in God, that is ample evidence that their god is a false god. Never forget this: In God’s sight, there are only two types of people on this earth: those under the power of the only true God, which includes those who will be under his power in the future, and those under the power of Satan. There are no gray areas.

Another way of finding out which God is the real one: check out the book/s attributed to that particular god. For example, the Christian holy book is called the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. The Jewish holy instruction book is the Torah/Pentateuch, which is in several ways similar to the Old Testament, which also contains the first four books of the Bible. The Islamic book is the Quar’an, also spelled “Koran.” I am not certain the name of the Buddhist instruction book/s, but check out that one/s also. Another religion which has many gods is the Hindu religion. I know very little of that religion, but I don’t think they believe in one god that is superior to all other gods.

The true God will demand obedience to all that He commands as evidence of His worshipers' sincerity of belief/faith. Galatians 5:5 “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Ephesians 5:6. “. . . God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.” If anyone claims to belong to the true God but is not obedient to His commands, he or she would be disqualified/rejected, without their knowledge, as being a worshiper of the ONE GOD. Then there is the god of this world, which does not require obedience; he is the great deceiver: the devil pretending to be almighty God. That clearly says that those who are ignoring the New Testament commands of love are most likely worshiping that deceptive god.

For those who will attempt to take the aforementioned study course, it is best to first read and study the instruction book of Jesus Christ, The New Testament, and use it as a standard of comparison. The reason I say that is because that book emphasizes love and obedience, as a result of faith, many times more than all other religious instruction books.

Another sure way to find the true God is to look at the lives of those who belong to certain Christian denominations. Do their lives correspond to New Testament teachings? If they don’t, you will know for certain that their church is one to keep away from.

One big problem: A multitude of different Christian sects in America believe contrary to what the Christian instruction book openly displays. I personally have studied many of those different church doctrines, and have come up empty as to finding one that is close to the New Testament. What the majority of these sects do is to downplay the importance of pertinent hard-edged verses which are disagreeable to our human nature; for instance: 1) verses which command an active desire to love God with one’s all, 2) love for neighbor as one loves oneself, 3) absolute obedience to Christ’s teaching, 4) the fatal harm in having or desiring wealth, along with a plethora of deadly but pleasing human tendencies that have been meticulously described throughout this blog. In short, that is the major malady of organized religion. That seems to be indicative of the fact that these “christian” churches are worshiping false gods who want to placate their worshipers by offering them all the pleasing things their hearts desire in this greedy and ungodly world.

Let me repeat: Before anyone can start to analyze who is worshiping the true God and what He requires, one must become intimately acquainted with exactly what the New Testament teaches. This cannot be done overnight. It will take some time to study the complex (to some), yet extremely simple road to life. Please, if you are a church goer, don’t depend on your church leaders to candidly tell you what has been and is still being Scripturally avoided/ignored since who-knows-when.

This is what I recommend: Buy a modern version of the New Testament–I prefer the New International Version (NIV). Just keep away from the King James Version. It is antiquated and is great if you were living in the 17th century. Along with that, buy CDs of the Bible. I am not sure if one can buy the New Testament without buying the Old Testament. There are 16 CDs in the New Testament and 48 in the Old Testament. I would concentrate on the New Testament first. When one is completely familiar with it, then start to listen to the Old Testament. Just think about it: If one listened to one CD a day, in 16 days they could have the complete New Testament under their belt. Don’t stop there; listen to it again and again. Play them when driving. When at home, as one listens to the CDs, when possible, follow along with the written Bible. Highlight all verses that you desire to remember or those that seem way-off-the-wall. Attempt to read or listen to the New Testament every day. Also, one can listen to the CD when doing things at home which don’t need concentration.

There will be some parts that will be extremely difficult to understand. The most difficult will be the book of Romans and other letters written by the apostle Paul. Even the apostle Peter writes that some of Paul’s letters are hard to understand. 2nd Peter 3:16 “. . . His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” When you come to Christian principles that need explanation, send me a comment or question.; I may be able to help. Another resource which will be extremely helpful is “Religion’s Crime Against God.” God and I will guarantee that this blog will water-down nothing but tell it like it is, regardless of how ridiculous it may sound.

I have been diligently attempting to live my life in accordance to Christ’s teaching, and after forty years or more, I am still learning. For instance: See post #187 on pride and humility. Regardless of what hurdles confront us, with God’s help you can and will overcome. I have. Therefore, don’t expect to learn in a few days what God required; it will take a long time. I wouldn’t switch my life for all the fame and fortune this world can offer.

Then comes the hard part: implementation: changing our ways of living to conform to what is being learned. There will be many spiritual principles that will be so difficult to put into practice that you may have to say, “Lord, I am not there yet.” And if you are sincere, in time you will be able to comply. This is the most important aspect of studying the Bible: Where is your heart? If you make every effort to obey Jesus Christ—and it will be difficult—you will please our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ, and also display your sincerity. The sad part of Sunday-morning “christians” is that they are sincere; but without Scriptural obedience, their sincerity is folly. I have said over a dozen times in this blog that the genuine Christian life will be the most challenging life in existence. There is nothing easy about it, which is totally contrary to what organized religion teaches. Indeed, they want you back next week. And any hard-ball teachings will make the laity say, “I am not coming back to this church again.”

Another thing that makes me extremely inwardly angry is that most of these churches claim to be Bible-believing–sure, the parts they believe which take little or no effort to live by; a passive belief in Jesus Christ as Savior is all that is required, without the word “Lord” (boss) ever mentioned. And when it is mentioned, are Christ’s teachings obeyed? He is our boss/owner if we truly are Christians. Luke 6:46. “Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?" How foolish can a majority of people be who claim to be Christians?

Another question we must grapple with: Is there really a God, or are we groping in the dark with cane in hand? Since there seems to be no empirical evidence for the existence of God, are we Christians just making fools of ourselves, as some believe? The answer is an emphatic no!

According to our laws of physics, there must be something out there, a force, energy or mind that exists outside the physical world, which physics cannot explain. This is what I mean: Most physicists believe that a minutely small, densely packed object exploded and eventually the universe was created. That belief begs the question: Where did that extremely small object that created the Big Bang come from? They have not been able to answer that question at this time. It is absolutely stupid to think that something can create itself out of nothing and for no apparent reason. And if there was an unknown force or energy, how or where did it come from? Those unknown facts vividly tell that some metaphysical mind or power exists beyond the laws of physics. That is where the laws of physics break down and a supreme, spiritual mind with a specific purpose makes its/His entry: Almighty God. Anything that has life has one purpose: to duplicate itself. Mystery solved.

And if by some chance the Big Bang theory is correct, it was God who started it all, which the most intelligent minds in the world cannot accept for the simple reason that God cannot be scientifically evaluated with empirical evidence. Could anyone imagine what those great intellectual minds could have done to make this a better world if they were to believe in the existence of a real, genuine, true God?

But atheists do have a legitimate reason for not believing there is a God. The shambles the world’s religions are engaged in, including the “christian” religion, are evidence enough to them that God is all a hoax. Islam goes for revenge and hatred, Judaism promotes greed for wealth, power and fame, Hinduism goes for statues as gods, while the leaders of the Christianity (con-artists) go for trickery. Let us not forget a few of the world’s less significant religions: Brahmanism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Lamaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Voodoo, etc.

For atheists to believe in God, it most likely, means they must accept these money- and blood-sucking religious scams. They say, “Thanks, but no thanks; it makes more sense to believe there is no god than to believe in a god that religious hypocrites believe in. You assume your god is defending the way most of the world’s religions are ungodly by making up this excuse for god: It is my prerogative not to interfere with what mankind’s religions do to my holy image. I am not intimidated by the foolishness of humanity.’” I don’t know if God feels that way, but when looking only at various rogue forms of organized religion per se, personally, I can agree with their atheistic way of thinking.

For sure, in their way of thinking, God cannot exist because of religion’s treachery and foolishness. They are not aware that there is a small number, mostly unseen or unheard, who truly desire to worship God as He requires. Let us make absolutely certain we are among that small group. Amen.

2 comments:

Jay said...

Al you almost said everything you needed to say in your first two paragraphs, that covers the greatest problem we see in our modern day churches. I think this was present in the early church also. I still don’t understand how can you blame the organized church for the sins of the individual people in the seats.

Here is my example. The church I go to dose no way ever preach that we can make our god into a god of our own making. Yet yesterday, as I was getting a haircut from this girl attends the same church I attend. In our conversation about God she relayed to me that her god would not send anyone to hell because he is all loving. Gasp.. She went on to say the ten commandments were only suggestion. This was most shocking to hear. She sits and hears the same things I listen to but comes to these conclusions. How can you blame organized religion for her sins.

Yes we are going to find idolatry in some of people when ever any group of people come together to worship God. My question is why you need to give up on local church because of a few? (Don’t want to go there right now because you now how I feel about you view.) I have to say, Nice job on this post. I will leave with the parable of the man who sowed good seed . It is intended to show that there would be a mixture of good and bad in Christ’s church, which would continue till the great separation between them in the judgment day: '' Any way that’s my interpretation”

Matthew 13
27"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
28" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
29" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'' May God bless you..
Jay

JC said...

Jay, thanks for your challenging questions and comments. Your first question was, “How can I blame the organized church for the sins of the individual people in the seats? The reason they are still sinning is because of what the church neglects to teach behind the pulpit. If they did preach Christ’s teachings, they would do one of two things: leave that church and go to one that is more pleasant and easier to live by, or start living as Scripture commands.

Second question. You will never in a life time hear a preacher say to anyone, they can make-up their god according to their liking. In its stead, the leadership preaches an anemic/lethargic gospel message. That message is not according to Christ’s gospel. What is created is a false gospel and a fake god according to the desires of the preacher. Guess what? The laity will believe in that gospel and then make-up rules to live by, that are spineless. The blame game belongs to the clergy for their greed for numbers and a large collection; also the blame belongs to the laity who don’t care to study the Scriptures to see actually what is commander in the New Testament.

Concerning how your hair dresser responded to the same message you both heard. She has a preconceived belief of what the Christian religion is all about, and you did the same. Therefore, you both heard two totally different message. Whose fault is it? Then I ask, where did she get the idea that God is a all loving God and would send no one to hell. I can guarantee you she didn’t get it from the Bible. Where else could she have got it from? I am certain any church that is preaching the true gospel message has at one time or another, in one way or another preached that principle of a all loving God is false.

I wish you were correct about a few that are in error in the organized religion. Why I blame the organized church is because the vast majority in those churches are living lives according to a false and easy-does-it gospel. I can’t understand how you continue to go to any church that doesn’t preach even a small part of what the New Testament teaches: I mean the hard-edged disagreeable part to our human nature, that would have driven your friend away. And there is plenty of hard-nose verses that must be taught, which are brought out in this website.

Concerning Matthew 27-30. That parable of the weeds and the wheat is referring to the world situation. We are not to kill or in some way destroy those who don’t believe, but we are taught to love them.

There are several verses that give us instructions as how to treat unbelievers in our churches: First. 1st Corinthians 5:1. A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you have rather have been fulled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?” Continuing 1st 5:11-13. “But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolaters or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindlers. With such a man do not even eat. . . . “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

2nd Thessalonians 3:14. “If anyone does not obey our instructions in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Do not regard his as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. If you read ahead a little in your Bible, it is talking about brothers not wanting to work, being idle and busybodies.

2nd Timothy 5:20. “Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that other may take warning.”

Read 2nd Timothy 3:1-5. Telling of the end times. The last verse says “Have nothing to do with them.” Just one more.

Titus 3:10. “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that have nothing to do with him.”

As anyone can see who knows what is commanded in holy Scripture, it is imperative to attempt to keep our churches clean of unbelievers. I know of only one church that does just that–though I don’t agree with a some of there beliefs–they are the Jehovah’s Witnesses.