The Apostle Paul was an example of someone who did not believe in Christ and was actively mocking and persecuting the God he believed he was actually serving…Does it really matter that we believe or not the inerrancy of the Bible or that we believe a cat is god…our belief does not change truth in the least…even if the large majority congregate around what we believe.
The era of tolerance and diversity has created the opportunity for endless possibilities of belief…indeed, many see faith like the flavours of an ice-cream vendor with many offerings designed to satisfy our peculiar craving …but what we believe does not change what is real or the truth. It is not indeed possible to stop believing error in our own strength or by logic – for the Bible teaches that our errors are often products of reinforced spiritual strongholds. Just as a dead man cannot wake himself up, similarly many can never just come to see the God of truth. I do actually respect the frankness and open zeal of the unbelieving many who will not see Christ as the only way…they are indeed most honest and perhaps more so than the many fake believers and hypocrites who pretend to believe for convenience but really have not had the encounter that will unseat the strong man controlling the strongholds responsible for their liberal mind-set.
Paul had such a liberating encounter on the way to Damascus…
Acts 9[1] And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, [2] And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. [3] And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: [4] And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
No one can believe in Christ through logical reason or by mere compelling arguments…only a liberating encounter of mercy that brings us down to the earth..will help us hear our maker screaming at us.
I look at the current recession and the trauma and marvel at a tool God is using to cause many to be humbled and to still other voices …only to now hear a different voice that will not be stilled.
Wait, friend before you despair at your sudden humbling…there is a lifting up…but hear God asking you…”Why are you persecuting me?”. Indeed God has been persecuted, mocked, derided and replaced with a God of our own understanding and making. The media, the intelligentsia and even in some cases, religion have, for fear of being seen to be unkind, unaccommodating or socially incorrect , gone on the tangent of persecuting and humiliating truth…
But God will still have His Paul emerge…perhaps you will be the next. Christians must pray at this time that many will hear God and not just the preacher…come to God and not just the building…and see God and not just what God can do for them…May eyes be turned on Jesus and away from the world…
See my website on the Recession-proof Christian life http://recessionproofchristianlife.com/
and consider the alternative in Christ. If you desire to know more …Read my book, Wealth out of ashes – http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=63927
…for a deeper insight on how God is at the heart of change especially our most feared crisis..and learn what to do.
About the Author:
Bode Ososami is an ordained minister and author. he has written 2 books, “Worship in Spirit and in Truth” and “Wealth out of Ashes.
See my website
http://recessionproofchristianlife.com/
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Fruit of Recession…Hidden value at times like this
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