Not only is our God the only true God, but the fact that He speaks powerfully proves it.  The ventriloquists put their human words into their statues and idols, our God put His Divine words into the mouths of His prophets long ago, at many times and in many ways.  And ultimately He came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to be the Divine word incarnate, and to speak authoritatively in an man who was actually "God in the flesh".  This is why Christians listen supremely to Christ.

The idea that God has spoken, spoken clearly and spoken authoritatively is critical to an understanding of Christianity.  Our entire system is based upon the assumption that God is not a deaf mute, but He has always spoken.  God has told us exactly what He wants us to know.  He is the God who has communicated, both in times past, and in times present.  It is one of His amazing attributes that He speaks.  Do not take this important thing for granted.

The idea of a silent God is pure idolatry.  Men love to create their own images of God, and have been doing so ever since the beginning.  And one of the most prevalent false notions of God is that He is a far off, mysterious being who is so aloof that He is cloaked in eternal silence.  A God who speaks, on the other hand,is a God who is very near, and who makes conscious statements that He want's us to hear.   If He has spoken, this in itself demands our complete attention and total obedience.

The ultimate issue in the Bible is the incarnational voice of God in Christ.  All the prophets of old spoke of Him (Jn. 1:45; Jn. 5:46), and When Christ came, He not only fulfilled all their prophecies completely, but He Himself, became the ultimate prophetic voice from God.  Christ was the ultimate literal, visible, personal communication from God to man. If you do not listen to Him, then you are not hearing God's voice at all.

1Jn 4:1-3  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

The quickest and surest way to test the spirits, and to know whether or not they are from God, is to bring them, and their teachings, to the Lord Jesus Christ who is God's authority, and the embodiment of God's truth.  He is the light which makes manifest, and in Him is no darkness at all (Jn. 1:5).   He is the true light which enlightens every man (Jn. 1:9), and if any men rebel against God and are in darkness, it is simply because they refuse to hear His speech in the person of Jesus Christ.  

Paul is quite clear on the fact that all men are without excuse before God, and God holds them fully accountable because He has given them more than sufficient light...  
Rom 1:18-19  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

God says, that Christ is the light of the world, that He lightens every man that comes into the world, and that God has shown all men what He wants them to know, and that they are "without excuse" (Rom. 1:20).  It also says, that "because they did not like to retain God in their thinking", that "God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Rom. 1:28). That settles all issues relating to the plight of the lost, and the justice of God in holding every human being accountable.  In order to go to hell, men must sin against the clear light which God has given them in Christ.  And yes, that even applies to cannibals in Borneo.  Because God says so!  God has spoken.  God has spoken clearly.  God has spoken authoritatively.  God has spoken universally.  And if men do not hear Him, it is because they have selectively alterred their hearing in order to tune Him out!  "when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened"(Rom. 1:21).

What we learn therefore, is that all men who hear Gods voice and follow it, find Christ as their Savbior and Lord. They do not listen to ventrilloquism, but they respond to truth.  They receive His words gladly, and they obey Him.  Listening attentively and obediently, so that they themselves have their minds transformed into "the mind of Christ'.  All Lost men, on the other hand, "give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils", and they sin against the light that they have recieved. They love darkness rather than light.  They therefore refuse to listen to God, refuse to submit to His truth, and deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ. "claiming to be wise they become fools"(Rom. 1:22).

Responding to God's prophetic voice in Jesus Christ becomes the ultimate test of Christianity and Christians.   Christians gladly hear Him, and they are supposed to hear only Him. "My sheep Hear my voice" (John 10:4,16,27), becomes the single most important identifyer of the true Christian.  Christians hear Christ's voice.  And they do not listen to false voices (Jn. 10:5,8). Christians listen to Jesus, non-Christians listen to everything else.  This is especially apparant in religious circles.   Religion ephasizes, traditions, human approbation, do-goodism, good works, feel-goodism, pride, human education, man made dogma, and so on.  But Jesus condemns all these things and stands against the religious crowd with His teachings of Faith and the Grace of God.  Sadly, it is no different today than it was in Christ's day.  Jesus opposed the scribes and the Pharisee's because they were simply unbelievers in religious clothes.  Those same kinds of people fill our churches, and in most cases, even run our Christian institutions today. It is evident that they are altogether lost , they love darkness, and reject Christ, and every genuine Christian should reject them and do everything possible to get them out of our churches.   

There is no room for patting them on the back and massaging their evil ego's.  If they refuse to hear Christ in all things, they are nothing more than Devils in disguise.  They deserve only harsh words, verbal tongue lashing and rejection. They certainly do not deserve to be given positions of authority in the communion of the saints.  The truth seekers, acknowledge Christ, and submit to His authority and to all of His teachings.   They do not explain away the obvious,  handle His word deceitfully, and twist His Bible till they can get it to say what they want it to say.   They gladly conform their thinking to His, their mind to His, their doctrines to His and their lives to His.  They take up His cross, and His cause alone, and they can see instantly the difference between pig food, and the bread that the Father has sent from heaven.   They do not dine at the trough of worldly thinking, but they set their minds and affections on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1-2).  And they do not listen to or follow the hireling theologians, because they know that they do not care either for the sheep or the shepherd (John 10:12-13).

Christians, who get their thinking from Christ, who are always listening to the continuing voice of prophecy in the Lord Jesus, are not easily deceived, and develop thought patterns which are radically different from the human viewpoint that is always being expressed in this world and in most churches, which are a disgrace to the Lord they claim to worship and serve.   Men hate Christ, and that even extends within the circle of visible Christianity, as we often let His haters and detractors in among those who are true worshipers. But Hebrews one makes it crystal clear that "God has, in these last days, spoken unto us by His Son".  If you are a follower of Christ, then God has spoken to you in no uncertain terms.  Listen to Him, and take up the cause of God and of truth everyday, and everywhere you go.  Do not listen to, or tolerate, darkness in any form, or the men who perpetuate it.  People of the light, walk in the light as He is in the light.  Darkness in any form, and in any place is repulsive to us.  So for Christ's sake, do not tolerate or condone it.  Snuff it out instead.   You are not being respectful to people, if you are not condemning their lies and hypocrisy.  It is pride alone which would cause you to soothe their evil consciences, pat them on the back and lead them to think "I'm OK, Your OK?".  It does indeed matter what they think and where they get their thinking from.  If they drink from some other source than the water of life, they are polluted and filthy.  Your job is to expose them and the bitter waters from which they drink.  If you do not do this, you are not witnessing for Christ, and you are probably not a Christian yourself.   It is a terrible pretense to let men speak and to continue on in blasphemy and sin.  Our job is to call them to repentance, and to do so in no uncertain terms.   God has spoken to us by His Son.  We have listened to Him.  And By His Grace, we shall endeavor to make all men everywhere hear Him, as well.  That is what Christianity is all about.  Bringing our minds and lives to Christ, so that by grace and through faith, we become like Him in our speech as well, as we listen to Him speak to us.

I have been waiting around all day (today is may 21, 2011).  I was hoping deep down inside that the nutbag Harold Camping was on to something, and that Jesus would pierce the skies and descend to earth with the shout of the archangel and the trump of God.  But unfortunately for Camping and his poor deluded followers,  Jesus was a no show, at His own main event!  I waited sufficiently, and it is now midnight and the 21st of May will pass away forever into the annals of misguided prophecy fanatic history, and it will take it's place beside the numerous false dates that have been set many times before.  This was, in fact, not Camping's first incorrect prophecy.  He's done this before, and He probably won't have trouble marshaling another band of idiot followers the next time He makes another whacky prediction. .  Who the hell would follow an Bible toting moron like that?   Camping  knows more than Jesus Christ Himself!    Jesus said "no man knows the day or the hour of His return, not even the Son Himself, but only the Father in heaven (Matt. 24:36;  Mk. 13:32).   But Camping and His poor blind followers thought that Harold,  was privy to this " Father Only"  information. 

Who exactly do they think he is?  Well the facts speak for themselves, and I do feel sorry for the poor slobs who sold their houses and pissed away their retirements following a dirt-bag like Camping.  But I guess they deserve what they got,  because obviously they have no real regard or respect, perhaps reverence is the word, for the Lord From Glory.  For had they listened to Jesus, they would not have done such blind and stupid things.  In fact,  I believe they have in deed received a judgement day of sorts.  God has judged them for their hardness of heart, and their foolish following after another one of the last days pied-pipers of prophecy.  When they should be guarding their hearts against wolves and false teachers,  instead they follow after every wind of false doctrine, and are blown about like a ship without a rudder.  What they got they deserve, because blindness is a judgment from God.  God hardened their hearts.  And God sent them into the fold of a charlatan teacher, because that's what they deserve for rejecting Christ.  But if they will learn anything, by this judgment from God on their souls,  let them learn this...it's not too late to repent and quit following false teachers.  Turn your ears and hearts to the Lord, and He can forgive you and set you in the path of truth.  If you learn that, then the judgment shall have served it's purpose.  But if you do not repent and start following Christ,  He will continue to harden your hearts, deafen your ears and you will end up at last in the fury of judgment which knows no end.   If you turn, you may not burn.   But if you fail to follow Christ, life, light, truth and love, you will get more of the big empty lies, and disillusionment that you have just received.

Some people have said that Camping and his blind followers have sullied the splendor of Christ, have trashed the good name of Christianity, and made a laughing stock out of the true believers, and out of Christianity as a whole.   One person even told me they thought what Camping did was give Christ two black eyes!  Actually that kind of thinking is to be expected by people who don't understand what God just did.  By smacking Camping and his blind leaders of the blind upside the head.  God is judging them, and far from this diminishing the glory of Christ and Christianity.  This actually proves His glory, power and might in a way that most people cannot see, because they too are blind and under judgment.   These are dark days, indeed, but not because God has quit working. And not because Jesus is sitting by the wayside, taking abuse and getting black eyes.   If you think like that, you clearly do not know who Christ is, the Sovereign Lord of The Universe.   They are dark days indeed, precisely because He is working.  Christ is executing judgment on blasphemers and false prophets right before the eyes of the watching world.   Any student of the Bible, and follower of the real prophecies of the New Testament,  will know that in the last days of human history God will send forth judgments just like the one witnessed by the world today, when Christ failed to appear, and the world failed to end.   This whole affair was part of His judgment in these last days .  Look.  Listen to 2Thess 2:1-12:   "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:   That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

That's pretty strong language.   Bet you haven't heard a sermon on that recently?    GOD WILL SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION,  THAT THE WILL BELIEVE A LIE!   Why?  because they loved not the truth!  They received not the love of the truth!  Don't think so lowly of this Christ, who is the God man.  From His perch at the right hand of the Father, he can dash ten million interlopers like Camping to pieces.  He hardens whom He will, and on whom He wills He has mercy.  Read Romans 9 Mr Camping!  Maybe if you would read the plain portions of scripture instead of counting toes on Daniel image,  you might have your eyes opened and will realize that you are a vessel fit for destruction,  because destruction is what you will surely receive if Christ does not see fit to turn you into a vessel of honor.  My suggestion to Camping and to all the Camping-ites who are wallowing in his darkness,  is very simple.  Realize that God has just  judged you with such blindness and stupidity as you have displayed before the whole world.  Realize it and repent!   Flee to Christ for forgiveness, before the real day of reckoning comes upon you.  Thank God, that today was not that day, because you still have time to repent, and God is obviously being Long-suffering and Merciful  for at least one more day.   Wake up, and examine your precarious position, for it is a dangerous one indeed.   There is not even a slim chance, that you will be included in any heaven bound rapture of the saints.   In reality, you are suffering under a severe judgement from God...strong delusion, that you have believed outright and total  lies.    God help you, and God help America,  which is producing this kind of so-called Christianity.  That's not Christianity, it's absurdity!  It's anarchy.  It's rebellion.  It hardness of heart. And God is not the author of confusion,  even when He is busy blinding the hearts and minds of reprobates, and impenitent people who cloister themselves in churches, and clutch Bibles and crosses while saying Lord, Lord.   He will say to them "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you!"  Case closed.   

Being For People and the World Rather than Against

Last week I attempted to outline the daily life and duty of every Christian rooted in the two “great commandments” of Jesus and the kingdom principle of restoration. I wrote:

"We enter the world each day as ambassadors of Christ and his kingdom—sensitized to the effects of sin—loving others by seeking their welfare through the proper ordering of things and relationships. We look for and respond to opportunities to bring relief to those who are suffering. We seek the good of others and when possible, we create systems and institutions that serve the common good and promote human flourishing. We work for remedy in the daily situations and when necessary, the reformation or abolition of whole systems that oppress. We disciple people in the Truth, showing them the way that leads to a life that thrives through having a right relationship to God, to self, to others, and the rest of creation."

However, to do this will require many of us to reexamine our attitudes and conduct toward the world and those outside the church. Too often, our attitude toward the surrounding culture and those who make it up is judgmental and condemning. We thoughtlessly criticize anything that isn’t distinctly Christian. When met with opposing ideas, we draw cultural battle lines and those on the other side are considered the enemy. We vilify and ridicule the representatives of “godless culture” and rather than engage with and love the lost, we take offense and withdraw into our Christian enclaves. Practically speaking, many Christians live as if they really don’t like the world or anyone in it!

We are often doing precisely the opposite of what Jesus did. He did not come to condemn the world but to save the lost (see John 3:17). Sinners didn’t offend Jesus! These were the very people to whom he was drawn and engaged with—the dirty, the broken, the vulgar, and the immoral. Zacchaeus the tax collector was the Bernie Madoff of his day, a traitor cheating his own people (Luke 19). The Samaritan woman at the well was the town “slut” (John 4) and the woman the Pharisees were preparing to kill was actually caught in the act of adultery (John 8). Jesus didn’t condemn these, he engaged them, ate and drank with them, defended them against their accusers—he loved them and because he first loved them, they in turn repented and followed him. Jesus wasn’t afraid of getting “dirty” by consorting with sinners.

In contrast, Jesus was offended by the self-righteous: the religious zealots who sought to keep themselves “unspotted from the world” by having nothing to do with sinners. The Pharisees criticized and condemned anything and everyone who didn’t conform to their standards. If we don’t see that we, too, are sinners—no better than others—then we are Pharisees judging others while deceived about our own condition.

Not only are we frequently judgmental, our thinking has become so clouded by political rancor and the cultural struggle that we refuse to acknowledge any contribution to what is true, good, and beautiful by non-Christians.

I recall publishing an article several years ago in which I praised Katie Couric, who, when asked by reporters if she would travel to Iraq, said she would not, “because a single mother of two had no business taking such risks in a chaotic war zone.” I simply shared in the reporter’s praise of Ms. Couric who “put the well-being of her two daughters above her career.” I received reactions from many Christians who expressed anger at me for praising a “left-wing liberal feminist” like Katie Couric. This attitude is contemptuous and self-righteously conveys the notion that only distinctly Christian conduct is worthy of praise. This is sheer nonsense lacking in grace; for Christians to diminish the good done by non-Christians makes us look narrow-minded, petty and hateful. This certainly isn’t consistent with the attributes of love that are listed in 1 Corinthians 13.

The consequence of this posture is devastating to the church and its mission. As a result, we increasingly find our message and ourselves unwelcome. In short, many Christians are not only rejecting Christ’s command to obey God by loving others; because of these attitudes and conduct, we are increasingly unlikeable! Sadly, this is becoming the predominant view of Christians by those outside the church.

In 2006, researchers at the Barna Group surveyed 16 to 29 year-olds and discovered that 38 percent claim to have a “bad impression” of Christianity and only 16 percent reported having a “good impression.” A full 49 percent reported having a “bad impression” of “Evangelical Christians” with only three percent claiming to have a “positive impression” (Kinnamon & Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity [BakerBooks: Grand Rapids, MI, 2007] 24). Only ten years earlier, a similar study revealed that 85 percent of those outside the faith held a “favorable” impression of Christianity. For the Christian who spends any effort trying to engage the lost, you are no doubt well acquainted with this sentiment.

Fortunately, there is a new movement of Christians rising to counter this condition (you may be among them); one hopes they will change this perception. Gabe Lyons refers to these as “restorers” in his recent book, The Next Christians: How a New Generation is Restoring the Faith. This growing group of believers has taken their impetus from their rediscovery of the gospel of the kingdom. Rather than withdrawing from the world waiting for evacuation, they take seriously Jesus’ command to occupy until he returns. They understand the extraordinary implications of God’s redemptive kingdom come into the world and so they work to infuse the world with God’s love, beauty, grace, and justice. They live, act, and speak as if they are for people and the world because Christ is. Where others take offense and withdraw, they are provoked to engage and remedy. Where others are prone to judge and condemn, they offer grace and mercy. Where others only see the profane, they choose to find the beauty that expresses the creative image of God. As Christians, we should look for common ground rather than focus on differences; we should build bridges that bring us together rather than walls that keep us apart!

Those compelled by their love for Christ and his world are shattering negative stereotypes and seeing the restoration of people and places. They are reaching a new generation through serious dialogue without moralism and judgment and drawing them into authentic communities of faith in Christ. People are in need of hope, not condemnation. As those who follow Christ, we know where and from whom this hope—our only hope—can be found. We are living in a potentially pivotal moment in history. If we are faithful to Christ and that which constitutes true Christianity (see Matthew 25:41-46), we can, once again, become the people of God animated by love and known for who and what we are for rather than who and what we are against.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version.

© 2011 by S. Michael Craven Permission granted for non-commercial use.