Free will

I’ve found myself in several deep conversations lately as a result of an ongoing discussion with a friend. My husband and I speak often of deep subjects but this conversation with my friend has spawned not only many discussions with my husband but it has also been the cause of a discussion with my sister in law and the cause of much research and Bible reading.

During the course of this conversation with my friend the topic of free will came up. I don’t know who was more surprised…my friend when I said I don’t believe in free will, or me that she was surprised I don’t believe in free will. My surprise came because this friend is second only to my husband in how much she knows about me.

I’ve talked to this friend about so much, let her be privilege to so much of who I am and what I think and feel. And so it was something of a surprise to realize that she didn’t know I don’t believe in free will.

Instead I believe in a God that’s sovereign, a God that controls everything.

I watched a video not long ago by a man that was refuting free will. In it he said something like the Lord is in control of everything that comes to pass. But what stuck with me so strongly, so profoundly, was what he said next…and what comes to pass? The wind blows, we blink, dogs run. That was so meaningful for me.

We blink.

And the Lord controls it.

Yet…this friend of mine, this friend that knows me so well, had no idea that I held that belief. And that surprised me. I’ve been careful what I say to family, careful what I say to most others, but this friend…she’s been privy to my innermost thoughts and beliefs. But more than that she’s one of the few people that actually knows I am the writer of my blog. And there in the posts are all my beliefs.

But apparently…somehow…not my belief on free will.

Years ago I told my mother that I wished I was like a pawn on a chessboard, that when I made a wrong move the Lord would reach down and move me back to the place I was supposed to be. My mother told me to be careful what I said because I wouldn’t really want life to be that way. My response then was the same as it would be today: Oh, yes I do!

Little did I know then that life is very much that way. We are completely within the Lord’s control.

And that is exactly where I want to be.

But somehow I have failed to convey that to the person that, after my husband, knows the most about my innermost thoughts and feelings. That has left me questioning how, exactly, this friend didn’t know that. Did I fail to tell her what I truly believe? If so that’s no longer the case. Did I somehow fail to convey those beliefs in the things I’ve said? Or did she not pick up on what I was meaning since I didn’t spell it out in so many words?

I don’t know how it happened but either way…she knows now.

And so much of what I believe can be summarized as the man in that video said…

We blink.

So simple, so profound. We blink. And the Lord controls all that comes to pass. We blink. Our eyes close for a second and open again. Our eyelashes flutter. Something so insignificant that we don’t pay it any attention. We blink.

I read somewhere that the urge to blink is triggered by the feel of tiny dust particles on our eyelashes. So we blink our eyes to dispel the dust before it gets into our eyes.

As we go about the course of our day, of our life, we blink…how many times? Hundreds? It’s something that holds no meaning, seems to serve no purpose. And yet it does. We blink. Blinking is apparently the result of our bodies clearing away a foreign object before it can invade one of the most sensitive parts of our bodies. It is our bodies way of keeping the eyes clean and moisturized.

There is a purpose to it.

We blink.

Not because it’s insignificant but because it clears away foreign objects so small we can’t even feel them…but the tiny hairs on our eyelids can…and protects our bodies from who knows what. And we see blinking as just something we do.

But it has a greater meaning. It’s part of a bigger plan. It has a purpose, a point. It doesn’t just happen. It’s a response, a reason.

We blink.

We don’t freely choose to blink. Sure, we can make our eyes blink. Sometimes we do so to entertain a child, or even ourselves, but most of the time we blink without thought.

Much like breathing. Have you ever noticed how hard it gets to breathe when you try and make yourself do it? Breathing is so effortless that it happens while we sleep, while we walk and talk, while we’re occupied with the hundreds and thousands of other things we do but that effortless action ceases to be effortless the minute we start trying to control it. I’m not talking about holding your breath. I’m talking about trying to consciously make yourself breathe.

If you’ve never tried it I highly recommend you do so.

All of a sudden what is a natural function goes from happening without any thought or action on your part and becomes something that takes your total attention. You must actively think about making yourself breathe. Your attention becomes focused on that single effort. You can’t make yourself breathe and do something else. The minute your mind goes to doing something else the effort it took to make yourself take a breath is gone…it goes back to being a natural function that requires no effort on your part.

You must battle your own body to make yourself breathe.

Or…you can simply relax, focus on other things, and let your body do what it was designed to do. When you do so the battle against your body ceases.

Why?

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ²⁵ nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Acts 17:24-25

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: Isaiah 42:5

I can’t help but see the profound sovereignty of my Lord in the above verses. What do they say about our Lord?

The God who made the world and everything in it… gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. What does that say? What does it mean? He gives not only life, not just breath but everything. Everything.

We have nothing without him.

What then of ‘free will’? We have nothing without the Lord…do we then have the freedom of choosing everything we do? Man would have us think we do. But if we do…then we become responsible for that everything. Scripture says it doesn’t work that way. Scripture says we have everything because God has given it to us.

We’re not only told that the Lord gives us breath but that it’s His breath that gives us life. In Genesis 2:7 we’re told…

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

We didn’t choose life, we don’t just have what we have because…well, because we do…breath and everything is given by the Lord.

I’ve been told that my marriage is a result of a choice I made. This doesn’t take into consideration that Scripture tells us…what God has joined together. It only takes into consideration that I chose to marry my husband. It was a choice I made, something I entered into…apparently out of my own ‘free will’...even though Scripture tells us that in marriage it is God that joins the couple together.

I’ve been told that having babies was a choice I made. That I deliberately chose to have them and therefore they weren’t of the Lord’s will.

How can that be?

… he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Everything. My husband is something that was given to me. My children were given to me. Scripture tells us that children are a blessing from the Lord. Take note of the last part…from the Lord. Anything from the Lord isn’t the result of our choosing. It isn’t a result of our will.

If God is sovereign how can our will make him give us something? How can we acquire a husband…which Scripture says is what God has joined together…out of our choice? If the breath of life is given to man from the Lord how could any choice I made bring my children into existence?

None of that…none of anything…comes about out of our ‘free will’ but out of the will of the Lord and the things He chooses to give us. He…gives…everything. And what is everything?

We blink.

Something so small, so ordinary, so every day, that we pay no attention to it. And yet it was designed to serve a greater purpose. It is an important part of the functioning of our body…so much so that it happens in response to the least stimuli.

We blink.

Think again of what happens when we make ourselves breathe. How hard does breathing become. Scripture explains that too.

If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.  Job 34:14-15

How long could we survive if we had to make ourselves breathe? How long would that breath of life stay in us if we had to control our breathing? What would happen to our breathing…something it takes all of our focus to make happen…when we eat? When we sleep? Sleeping wouldn’t even be a possibility. We would suffocate ourselves the minute we fell asleep. And there would go life. In fact life would never happen because there is no newborn baby that can ever make themselves breathe. They don’t have the ability to do so. It must be involuntary until they are old enough…have grown and developed enough…to not only control their thoughts but to control their bodies. They would die the minute they were born because they wouldn’t have the ability to breathe.

But that doesn’t happen. Why? Because the Lord breathes life into us, He gives us breath as well as life. And so we live. Not because we will it but because He does.

What person ever asked to be born before they were even conceived?

It’s not our will to have life but His. How then can we assume that the God that made the earth, the God that gave us life out of His will then sits around waiting for us to use our ‘free will’ before he can work in our lives?

The answer to these questions…and so many more…lie within the pages of the Bible. Acts 17:26 goes on to tell us…

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Look closely at that last part… having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. In that verse we’re told that the Lord has determined…decided…chosen…the time period in which we will live and the location that we will live in. If that isn’t enough to tell us that we are but a product of the Lord’s will…

 “‘In him we live and move and have our being’ Acts 17:28

In him we live. In Him we move. In Him we have our being. In Him. Not out of our ‘free will’, not out of our choices but in Him. In Him we have…everything.

We blink.

²⁹ Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

To say that man has the ‘free will’ to choose and to do disregards so much of Scripture. It takes away the Lord’s sovereignty and places control in the hands and minds of man. It makes God an image in the mind of man…an image that sits around ‘allowing’ us to mess up the life He gave us. It takes the sovereign God of the Bible and turns Him into some paltry being that must wait on man to do something before He can act. Paul so clearly covers that with only a few words that it is so profound in its simplicity.

But who are you, O man…Romans 9:20

Who are you, O man? He is clearly calling the will of man into question. Who do you think you are you mere mortal? You’re questioning a holy God and you think you have the right. Who are you…O man?

Who are you, O man… Who are you, who am I, in reference to an all holy God? Look at a single grain of dirt. Can you make it? Can you make something so simple, so basic, as dirt? I can’t. God did. He made that and more. It’s all there before us. In his creation. He made the dirt and he placed it where He wanted it to be. And He made us and put us where he wants us to be. And yet people want to say that man has the free will to decide if they will believe in God.

 

We blink. Because He made us to do so. We breathe because He gave us life. The above paragraph was taken from the response I wrote to my friend. We can’t make dirt and we can’t make ourselves breathe long enough to sustain our lives for more than a short time. Can you make your heart beat? Can you make your brain function?

 

But people dare to believe that their will controls anything in life. We can’t even control our own ability to live.

 

Who are you, O man…

 

Who are you to question God? Who are you to answer back to God? Who are you…O man…he’s saying you’re nothing but man. God is sovereign, he’s holy, he’s so far beyond man that man is only…o man… and we have no place to question Him.

 

If God is sovereign man has no free will. If man has free will God is not sovereign. It’s either or. It can’t be both. That’s like saying the sky is the ground. Either its sky or its ground. It can’t be both. It’s one or the other. To say that God is sovereign but man has ‘free will’ is to say man and God are on equal levels. God is sovereign…he can do anything, can control anything, but man is powerful in the exercising of his own desires. That puts man on the same level as God. We have the total ability to control what we will believe. We have the total ability to choose…’free will’…to believe in Christ or not. And it disregards John 6:44…

 

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…

 

This says it’s not man that chooses Christ. It’s God that draws man to Christ. It’s not man’s ‘free will’ to choose Christ but God’s will to call him to him.

 

Who are you, O man?

 

Who am I?

 

We can see the very nature of God in all of Scripture. We can see so much of Who the Lord is and who we are not.

 

Who am I that an all sovereign God would take the time to care anything about me? Who am I that a holy God would notice that I even exist? Who am I that he would pay any attention to me? Who am I that a perfect God would love me despite my sins?

 

We’re talking about a God that spoke the world into existence. A God that formed man from dust. A God that wiped out nations. A God that destroyed everything in the world.

 

Who am I?

 

We’re told… What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14). And still there are so many that speak of ‘free will’.

 

It hurts my heart to even think of ‘free will’. I ache when I read…who are you, O man. My soul cries out as I say…who am I.

Who am I?

I’m nothing. Just a mere person. My life is but a moment in time for a purpose not of my doing but of my Lord’s. I’m here to take my place in his plan. So much of my life feels as if it’s about me but in reality it’s but a marker in the entire plan of a sovereign God that is working out His will for all of mankind.

Who am I in that?

We blink…

And I’m told that ‘free will’ is the very core of being a Christian. My friend, in her questioning, told me to look to the scriptures. What can I do but cry out…I have. I have looked at the Scriptures. I have studied them. And I’m left asking…who am I, O man?

I see the verses that speak of choosing and I admit I don’t fully understand how all that fits in with the so many verses that show, and prove, that the Lord is working His will in mans life. But when I look to Scripture all I see is the Lord’s will. I can’t find man’s ‘free will’ anywhere.

My friend pointed me to Revelation and the verse that says “'Whosoever will, take freely of…”

I looked that verse up. It’s Revelation 22: 17 and it says…

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Look at it. Think about it. Remove the idea of ‘free will’ from your mind and look again. It does say… whosoever will…but…think of that in light of Scripture. Use Scripture to interpret it. How many places in Scripture do we see that man’s hearts are hardened? We can go in depth and look at the why, and the Who, does the hardening of those hearts. Yes, Scripture says whosoever will but it isn’t the ‘free will’ of man. It isn’t God sitting by idly twiddling His thumbs while He waits for man to…Please, please, please…come to Him.

It’s whosoever will according to Scripture…according to the will of God.

And so…look to the Scriptures. I have. And I see God. All God…no man. It’s His creation to do with as He pleases and do with it He does.

We blink.

Who am I…

 

 

The 'God' of Arminianism

There was a time when I thought that idols were the little gold statues, or big statues, that are worshipped in other religions. I know now that idols are much more than that. Those are idols, sure, but so are the many, many other things both physical and mental that are put before God.

I was recently in a large city where there stood on every street corner…or so it seemed…large ‘church’ buildings. These buildings were look-at-me buildings. They may or may not have been designed with the intent to draw a person’s attention but the sheer size of them made sure that they caught your attention.

I’ve driven through neighborhoods with houses made on the same scale. Whatever the owner’s reason for building or buying such a huge house it’s quite impossible to drive past one and not notice that it’s there.

And that’s just houses.

            I’ve seen cars that you couldn’t pass without looking at them, whether you liked them or not there was something…the color, the size, the number of toys in the window, the bumper stickers plastered on it…something that drew your attention. How about stores? Playgrounds? Restaurants? The list goes on and on. As you drive through any town, any area, there will be something that draws your attention. On an old country road with no buildings in sight your attention may be drawn to the biggest tree, the brightest flower, or the deepest pothole, but whatever it is…your attention will go to something.

In nature your focus is at least on that which the Lord created. A Christian might drive down that country road or walk through those woods and think about the One who created such a display. But even a Christian is hard pressed to find the Lord in the midst of the look-at-me everything’s that our society has built.

My mind goes time and again to those large ‘church’ buildings. I’ve written of them before and will probably write of them again. They simply stand out in such an extreme way that it’s hard not to think of them.

There’s no doubt in my mind that those huge ‘church’ buildings are idols or at least a place to worship an idol. The building wasn’t built to worship the Christ that was born into this world in a barn. They weren’t put there to worship the God that hates the wicked.

The God I spoke of could care less about big buildings. He’s more concerned with the condition of hearts than of outward appearances. He’d rather have one of His true Children worship him from a cardboard box than a million idolaters from inside a monstrous building.

There is no building that can get anyone closer to Christ.

But it isn’t just buildings that serve as idols in the eyes of those that claim to worship Him. I could probably write a blog post every day for a year on a different something that is worshipped, that’s an idol, and I’d still have so many more things to write about that I could fill another year with daily posts.

The other day my husband said that our country has reached the point of being lovers of pleasure.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. 2 Timothy 3:1-5

            They will become lovers of pleasure… What in our society hasn’t come to the point of pleasure? What hasn’t moved from serving a purpose in our life to being pleasure? Hunting has gone from a way to feed ones family to a sport. Fishing has done the same thing. Cars have gone from a means of getting from one place to another to a hobby. Clothes are collected to the point of overflowing closets and dressers rather than having just enough to clothe us. And the list goes on.

            I was surprised to discover the other day that there is…at least one…entire website complete with forums dedicated to a certain kind of ink pen. I knew there were websites with forums for flashlights, cloth diapers, parenting, fertility, child raising… But a pen? What can anyone find to talk about a pen enough to dedicate a whole website to it? But there it was before me. When I stumbled on it I took the time to look around. Who wouldn’t? What is there to say about a pen?

            As it turned out…pretty much what you’d expect. Designs, colors, types of ink, colors of ink, ways to use the pen…

            If that’s anything short of idolatry I’m not sure I want to know what it is. Basically if your mind is captured by something…anything…you can probably find a website, and mega store, to support it.

            But it isn’t just things that become idols. It can be a person, a place, or even the way you worship.

            I recently wrote a post on Arminianism. I don’t mind admitting that I felt ill equipped to write that post. I simply didn’t know enough about Arminianism to feel like I could adequately cover it but the need to write on that topic was there and with research I learned what I needed to know to turn out that post.

            It wasn’t until after I finished the post that I began to think of something else. I wrote the facts and my thoughts in that post but I failed to take note of a rather large…rather glaring…detail.

            The Arminian belief is idolatry.

Yes, I said it. It is idolatry. I grew up with that belief, have written many times of how I was taught to believe as a child. I know that other people hold different beliefs than my family did. I know that they practice those beliefs in different ways.

But I’ve noticed something among those that hold to the Arminian belief system. Some of them hold so fast to what they believe that they simply won’t accept correction. Not even if it’s delivered straight from the pages of the Bible.

 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16

How does a person that professes to believe in the Bible refuse to take correction straight from the pages of the Book they claim to base their most basic beliefs on, claim to learn from?

I’m not saying all Arminian’s are this way, I’m saying some of them are. I know there are others that are easily swayed from one type of belief to another and yet they all hold fast to the same basic belief that if you accept Christ then you are saved. I don’t know enough about the various denominations to be able to give examples of how they all do it but the general consensus seems to be that you must accept Christ to be saved.

That belief puts the individual and their decision, their choice, their free will, above God. And that becomes idolatry.

2 Timothy 3:6-7 goes on to say…

For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, ⁷ always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

Something I learned while I was reading about Arminianism was how Arminius started it. He accepted a position to teach at a University that held to reformed beliefs. He pledged that he believed the same way. Then while teaching what was required in his classes he turned around and handed out private…confidential…papers that taught Arminianism.

He was a sneak. He didn’t just stand up and admit what he believed then try to teach it to those that wanted to hear it. He crept into a University teaching reformed faith and secretly taught something that went against, not only his job, but the very Bible he supposedly believed. He led students that trusted what he said was truth astray by teaching them a different doctrine than the one they were supposed to hear at the University.

He poisoned their minds under cover.

And today the things he taught are the number one type of Christianity in America. What he taught under cover in the late 1500’s is now being openly taught in ‘churches’ across the country. It’s filling books and movies. It’s even infiltrated the Bible to the point that one must be careful when buying a Bible with any kind of manmade notes in it lest they get one filled with the same heresy written within its pages.

That is idolatry.

 Arminianism has become synonymous with Christianity. When a person hears the term Christian they think of the Arminian belief. When most people hear the name God they think of the ‘God’ of Arminianism.

And anytime we think of anything higher than we think of God…it’s idolatry.

We’re warned time and again in Scripture to have no other gods, that our God is a jealous God, that idolatry is punishable by eternity in hell and yet…Arminianism is taught as the way to Christ. Those that hold to the Arminian beliefs scoff at those that see the Bible as it is really written. They call the regenerate Christians that try to teach them the dangers of their erroneous beliefs all sorts of names and often kick them out of their ‘church’ buildings.

If their beliefs are the right ones according to Scripture then why do they need to remove those that are using Scripture to point out something other than what they believe? Why can’t they simply use the Bible to contradict the reformed belief being presented to them?

Because idolatry isn’t easily given up. No idol is. And because most of them don’t know the Bible well enough to be able to use it to contradict anything.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

The Arminian belief in ‘God’ is an idol that gets them no closer to Christ than does total disbelief. What’s worse is that in all their certainty…many are still going to hell.

What would the Armenians say about any religion that believed something that went against the Bible? What would they say about a person that believed their salvation lay in anything other than Jesus? And yet they believe strongly in a system of religion that is based on

a gospel that isn’t taught in the Bible. The gospel that was once taught by Arminius and is now so widely accepted and believed was easily seen as being something other than the true Gospel in the 1500’s. Today it is what is considered by most to be the gospel of the Bible.

Arminius’ beliefs catered to the flesh and became popular with in the secular world but was seen by the Church as a heresy, as false doctrine. Arminius was very much a wolf in sheeps clothing. He slipped into a University where only reformed faith was taught, lied about his beliefs to secure a position there, then quietly and secretly set about spreading his beliefs.

These were brand new beliefs, beliefs that Arminius himself held and wanted to share. Like a burgler in the night he snuck into places he wasn’t wanted and took what wasn’t his. He spread lies and gained believers.

How?

Because the belief he shared was something that the secular mind could grab onto. It was a ‘god’ that anyone could have. It was a ‘god’ that man need only to accept to gain acceptance by. Where the reformed church taught the Truth which stated that man can only be saved by God and that unless God saved him he had no way of attaining salvation, Arminius changed all that with a ‘god’ that man need only accept and choose to follow.

No wonder the Arminian belief is so popular today. No wonder it has thousands, millions, of followers. The modern day ‘church’ in America has not only embraced the Arminian belief they have grabbed onto it with both hands and refused to let go. It’s a life raft for a drowning person. It’s hope when there is no hope.

The modern American ‘church’ has not only grabbed onto the Arminian belief…they are chasing after it in large crowds. They’re selling books, movies, and music that promote the belief’s they hold dear. They have conferences and conventions that uplift and encourage, they have revivals, they have Bible studies, schools, colleges, that all promote the Arminian belief.

And they promote a belief that is an idol and not the real Gospel. They promote a ‘God’ that isn’t the God of the Bible.

People that hold to the Arminian belief go into countries where people are desperate for help, they promote the same ‘gospel’ that Arminius did so many years ago, and they ‘convert’ hundreds and thousands of people to a belief system that’s false. Then they report on the vast number of people that have been reached ‘for Christ’.

All this is done because the Lord allows it to happen. It’s done for reasons we can’t know. I have no doubt that the Lord is using the Arminian system to save some of His elect…I’m proof of that.

But it’s still a religious system that not only believes in a false doctrine…they try and share it with as many people as they possibly can.

Years ago mothers used to take their children to what was known as chicken pox parties. The idea behind those parties was that children needed to catch the chicken pox while they were young so when one child came down with them other parents deliberately exposed their child to them in the hope that they would catch them and get them over with.

Arminianism is much like a chicken pox party only most of them don’t realize they’re spreading a false gospel. They ‘catch’ Jesus and then want to spread to it as many people as they possibly can. So they go from house to house trying to share their gospel, they go into impoverished countries offering to help the people there but in exchange those people have to listen to the beliefs they hold dear. They share their ‘Jesus’ and count the number of converts that ‘catch’ him.

And it’s a success because the numbers keep climbing. Their brand of chicken pox has reached epidemic proportion and they keep spreading it.

Never knowing that they’re spreading lies to millions of people. What they believe in gives them hope on earth and they want others to have it. There’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone needs something to hope in. The problem comes in that what they hope in isn’t there. And when you hope in something that isn’t there…there is no hope.

It’s all a smokescreen that serves no purpose.

‘Here is my ‘Jesus’, accept Him and you will go to heaven with me. We’ll be together in eternity.’ Only their ‘Jesus’ doesn’t save people. He can’t save people because he must wait for them to save themselves. The heaven they think they’ve bought into isn’t waiting for them because it’s being set aside for those that Christ has saved.

The same ‘Jesus’ that they’re sharing with anyone and everyone is so sought after because he supports the secular mind. He allows them to live as they want, to continue to chase after bigger and better things. Their ‘Jesus’ is proud of their big tabernacles they call ‘churches’ and he applauds the sheer numbers of converts that ‘catch’ him. Their ‘Jesus’ is a god of the flesh that puts few if any demands on how they live their lives.

And he is happy when they sell him in their ‘Christian’ books. Happy when they portray him in their movies. Happy when they sing about him in their music.

Whole stores have been opened dedicated to selling the ‘Christianity’ of Arminius. Walk into one of those stores and you must look long and hard to find anything that promotes the true Gospel. Where in that store filled with ‘Christian’ materials is the real Christ? ‘Christians’ are turning out books and other materials sold in those stores at a rate that nearly rivals those in the secular world. ‘Christians’ are making millions off their ‘Christian’ bookstores and the things that are sold there. They’re making millions off false teachings that are spreading heresy.

And the ‘Jesus’ of Arminianism thinks it’s wonderful.

Hollywood, and its miniature versions coming from wherever they come from, have discovered that there’s money to be made in ‘Christian’ movies and they’re turning them out. Some of the more recent so-called ‘Christian’ movies are nearly impossible to find any form of God in them. But people are making millions off these ‘Christian’ films and ‘Christians’ are flocking to them.

And the ‘Jesus’ of Arminianism is thrilled because he is being sold to so many people.

The Arminian ‘Jesus’ is being taught in the seminaries, new preachers are being turned out ready to spread their ‘Jesus’ to anyone that will listen. They’ve been taught where to find their ‘Jesus’ in the Bible and how to teach him to the masses. New ministers are ready to go out and spread ‘Jesus’ far and wide. They’re ready to teach him from their pulpits to people that trust everything they say to be true. They’re ready to push him further by instructing the children they encounter by teaching them ‘Jesus loves you’.

And the ‘Jesus’ of Arminianism loves it.

Arminius taught a religion that the secular mind could grasp and grab onto. The modern day preacher teaches the same religion. It was a religion based on the work of man when Arminius taught it and it is a religion based on the works of man today.

Arminianism has been called many things from great to ‘deep darkness’ (Johnathan Edwards). I think I like the term deep darkness best. There are many people out there that believe in nearly anything but Christ. They chase their ‘gods’, and their beliefs that there is no God but I think for me the saddest part is when they come so close. Some Arminians have a deep belief in their ‘Jesus’. Some of them change their lives for him.

I heard a reformed preacher once say…they will get to heaven and say I was so close. It was there before me.

Armenians are so close. They know that Jesus is the Son of God. They believe that He is. And yet their belief is not in the Jesus that the Bible teaches it’s in a Jesus that they’ve made up in their own minds.

It’s in a ‘Jesus’ that is nothing sort of an idol that stands in the place of Christ. Their ‘Jesus’ hangs on their walls, speaks on their shirts, walls, and cars. Their ‘Jesus’ encourages the spreading of him to as many uninfected people as they can reach.

Let me ask you something…Does that sound like the Jesus of the Bible? It is the Christ that taught that he came not to bring peace but a sword? Is it the Christ that said if they hated me they will hate you?

Christians are told not to worship idols…

Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:4

That hasn’t changed. God’s people have always been forbidden from worshipping idols. Idols are anything that are placed as more important than Christ in our lives. They are things that take His place in our hearts and minds and lives. They are what we seek after, what we chase after.

There are gods for just about anything man can think up. ‘Gods’ of fertility, gods of the stars, gods of prosperity. There are gods of money, gods of things, gods of loved ones…dead and alive.

Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. Isaiah 2:8

Arminianism is just as much idolatry as the worshipping of golden statues. It’s idolatry because it is worshipping a god that doesn’t exist. It’s idolatry because it’s being spread like a disease to those that are desperate for hope in a depraved world. It’s idolatry because it takes the place of Christ and gives credit to a ‘God’ that isn’t the God of the Bible.

Scriptures warns that idols are not to be worshipped. Anything that is worshipped in the place of the one true God is an idol and should be seen as such. But the Arminian ‘God’ can’t be seen that way because he is promoted as being the God of the Bible.

This ‘God’ isn’t the God of the Bible. He holds little resembalence to the God of the Bible even though that ‘God’ did many of the same things that God did. That ‘God’ created the earth. That ‘God’ sent His Son to earth to die for sins. That God can be learned about in the pages of the same Bible that the real God can be.

That ‘God’ takes what God is and changes Him into some idea of what ‘God’ should be based on man’s ideas. The God of the Bible is pushed aside, ignored, laughed at…forgotten…to make way for the ‘God’ of man, the ‘God’ of Arminianism.

Because My people have forgotten Me, They have burned incense to worthless idols. Jeremiah 18:15

They have forgotten God.

When Arminianism was first being taught Arminius was investigated. His beliefs were seen as lies, they were seen as the heresy that they are. Today most people in the American ‘church’ don’t know that there’s any other God than the one that’s being taught from their pulpits.

I grew up in ‘church’ buildings, surrounded by ‘Christians’, even went to a ‘Christian’ school and yet I had no idea that the ‘God’ I was taught loved me was a ‘God’ that others said wasn’t the God of the Bible. I never knew until long after the Lord had changed the way I understood Scripture that the ‘God’ I had grown up believing in didn’t exist. I’ve known many other ‘Christians’ in the Arminian system that don’t know there’s any other God than the one that they’ve been taught. Though they hold the Word of God in their hands they simply have no idea that what they’ve essentially been brainwashed to believe doesn’t exist within the pages of the very Book they base their entire belief on.

Most of them wouldn’t know the term Arminian if you asked them what it meant. It was a term I never heard uttered in the many years, the many ‘churches’, I was a part of that system.

The ‘Jesus’ of Arminianism is a well guarded idol  and most of his followers have no idea that he is nothing more than an imaginary idol created hundreds of years ago by a man that promoted him in secret.

Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. Jonah 2:8

How many people lose all hope of mercy when they believe in this ‘Jesus’ that doesn’t exist? How many place their faith in a ‘God’ that will do nothing for them? How many ‘Christians’ that spent their lives believing in, teaching about, ‘Jesus’ are in hell right now?

How many of them cry from the depths of torture ‘I was so close’?

What of the ‘God’ that wants only good things for you? What of the ‘God’ that allows you to claim all the blessings of this life? What of the ‘God’ that encourages chasing the things of the world?

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul… Matthew 16:26

Does that sound like a God that wants you to have prosperity on earth? Does it sound like a God that wants to give man the many blessings this earth has to offer? Or is it a god made up in the secular mind of man? A god that has been created to cater to the earthly desires of man?

What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, the molded image, a teacher of lies, that the maker of its mold should trust in it, to make mute idols? Habakkuk 2:18

What profit is an image of god that isn’t God? What good does it do to have a god that can’t save the people he supposedly loves? How powerful is a god who sits back with tied hands awaiting man to come to him before he can act on their behalf?

But more than that, notice the words in the middle of the above verse… a teacher of lies. That is exactly what Arminius was…a teacher of lies…and it is what those that continue to teach the Arminian belief are. They are teachers of lies.

Teachers of half-truths, deceptions, outright lies, that they go around teaching to others, filling their heads with those things until they can’t see that there’s any mistruth to them.

Where does such a deception come from?

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44

I have heard many a preacher tell his audience that if the devil isn’t afflicting them then they aren’t ‘right with God’ because the devil doesn’t need to try to tempt those that aren’t ‘right with God’. Based off that statement…I have to ask…does the devil even need to mess with the ‘church’ in America today? His lies were spread far and wide and the many believers have fallen victim to them, they worship a god that doesn’t exist, they hold to doctrines that aren’t true, and they refuse to believe the ‘lies’ of people that try and show them the God of the Bible.

Idolatry is rampant in what is commonly believed to be ‘God’s’ people. They worship a god that doesn’t exist and because their god allows it…they worship many of the things of the world. Their god is a god of the secular mind, a god that lets them live as they want to and hold fast to ‘god’ at the same time.

People study the Bible, think on its verses, interpret them with their ideas of what they should be instead of seeing them for what they are, they write it in books, put it in movies, teach it as gospel…and other people grab onto it like it’s a rope thrown to a drowning man.

Christians are to keep themselves from idols…

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21

We are to keep ourselves from idols whether they are physical idols or mental, real or imaginary. God hates idolatry. He specifically spoke against it in the Ten Commandments, warned against it time and again in Scripture, gave examples of what it is.

Idols are imaginary gods made up by man’s deprived mind to give the sinner something to focus on because he can’t focus on Christ. No matter what the idol is, what form it takes, it is simply something that takes the place of Christ. Idols are useless things that serve no purpose beyond the need that the unregenerate place on them. They have one purpose…that of leading people far from Christ. Sinners minds and hearts are so busy following after their idols that they have no room for Christ.

Arminianism is an idol that pulls people far away from the real God and gives them a ‘god’ that they can grab onto.  It gives them a ‘god’ that has no real value, a ‘god’ that is held captive by the will of man, a ‘god’ that can do nothing unless man allows him to. A ‘god’ that serves the whims of man, a ‘god’ that caters to his desires, a ‘god’ that is what man wants him to be.

You can find this ‘god’ in just about any place that you see the term ‘christian’. If you don’t like the ‘god’ that’s in one ‘Christian’ establishment you can shop around until you find the kind of ‘god’ that you like.

That ‘god’ has no value beyond what man places on him. That ‘god’ does nothing for man’s soul. That ‘god’ gets his believers no closer to salvation than they were when they caught him.

Years ago while attending an Arminian ‘church’ I was taught that the earth is only a battle ground where souls are tested so that it can be figured out which ones follow Satan and which ones follow Jesus. That isn’t what I believe now but it was widely taught in that ‘church’ building. Earth was essentially seen as a war zone between Jesus and the devil. People were put here so that Jesus could know who followed Him that way only those that believed in Him would make it into heaven.

Let me say…I do not believe that way, I’m not sure I ever did, but it was taught in a ‘church’ I went to.

But…if a person subscribed to that philosophy…why would the devil need to do anything in the modern American ‘church’? The battle for souls has already been won there…if it were a battle…because the masses of people that flock to their buildings, that fill their pews, believe in a ‘god’ that doesn’t exist. There’s no need to fight over something you already own.

The truth of why man was put on earth is far different than the reason that was given in that ‘church’. There is no battle because God doesn’t need to fight for those that are His.

But if things were as that ‘church’ said…why would the devil have to battle when he’s already won?

The Bible is clear that idolaters will go to hell. Those in the idolatry of the Arminian belief are already lost. If earth were a battle ground the war for those souls is over.

Sadly, that’s just one of many of the false teachings served up in the Arminian ‘church’. The ‘deep darkness’ of the Arminian belief system perpetuates that which does not come from Scripture and they do so at an alarming pace, converting as many as they can to their belief.

And many of them do so in ignorance.

Will ignorance save them from condemnation from the God that they don’t serve? Scripture says it won’t.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6

Week after week, service after service, the ‘god’ of Arminianism is worshipped, often in ignorance. He’s perpetuated far and wide. He’s accepted and revered while the true God of the Bible is forgotten.

I don’t know about you but I find the verses about God forgetting our children, or visiting the iniquity of the fathers onto the children… I don’t know what it makes me feel exactly other than the fact that it is a vivid reminder of the power of God and how far He will go in His wrath against the wicked.

He will forget the children because the parents forgot Him. While Arminians believe they are worshipping God, they have…instead…no knowledge of Him. The ‘God’ they worship is not the God of the Bible.

You shall have no other gods before^[me. Exodus 20:3         

… for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…Exodus 20:5

If you read through Exodus 20:3-5 you get a very clear picture of what God thinks of idolatry…

You shall have no other gods before me. ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me

Those verses pretty much spell out the whole of idolatry. Have no gods before me. Do not bow down to serve them. I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children…of those who hate me.

God equates idolatry with hating him and the punishment doesn’t stop with the person that commits it but is passed onto the children for three and four generations.

Arminianism is serving a ‘god’ that isn’t the God of the Bible. It’s idolatry. It’s worshipping a ‘god’ that doesn’t exisit. And it’s being taught to people in a repetitious cycle that is passed from parent to child.

Does that sound like a god that loves his people or does it sound like the wrath of a God that is punishing not only the parents but the children too?

As I write this post I find myself thinking of what I wrote toward the beginning. The god of Arminianism was created in the mind of a man, he was taught to others through deceit and lies, through sneaking. He crept into the minds of young people that were deceived by lies. That ‘god’ is now considered to be the living ‘God’ of ‘Christianity.’ He lives in the hearts and minds of people that claim to put their faith in Christ. He is taught from their pulpits, in their movies, in their books, in their songs, and in their Bibles.

Stop and think about that for a brief moment. The Arminian ‘God’ was created in the mind of a man.

That ‘God’ must be happy about that.

The Arminian ‘God’ has taken over the God of the Bible as the ‘God’ of ‘Christianity’.

Their ‘God’ must be happy about that.

The Arminian ‘God’ lives in the hearts and minds of people that claim to seek God.

Their ‘God’ must be happy about that.

The Arminian ‘God’ is taught from their pulpits and in their entertainment.

Their ‘God’ must be happy about that.

Now I ask you…Does their ‘God’ sound like God…or does it sound like lies that have been fed to people. Does it sound like God or does it sound like a warped version of God? Does it sound like God or…

Satan?

 

 

 

 

Candy Christianity

When was the last time you sat through a Sunday service in a church building? It’s been a couple of months for me. I used to do it twice every Sunday. I went for the early service and stayed through the regular service. I remember during one of the early service’s the preacher made the statement that he believed there were more ‘real Christians’ in that service than during the regular service. I have no idea why he made that statement, what made him think that. He didn’t elaborate and during the many service’s I attended I never saw any difference in those in the early service than those that came to the regular service…with the exception that there were less people in the early service, they didn’t seem to mind getting up early, and they were quieter. But for some reason the preacher thought the early service had more ‘real Christians’ than the regualar service did. If that was true I never saw any indication of it.

I don’t know what that preacher meant when he referred to ‘real Christians’. Since he didn’t seem to be reformed I doubt that was what he thought a ‘real Christian’ was. But to him, whatever a ‘real Christian’ was, there were more of them in the early service than there were in the regular service.

During the time I was going to that ‘church’ so much I met my husband, not at the ‘church’ but elsewhere. As he and I talked, getting to know each other, he used to tell me I should get up on the stage before a service and ask if there were any monergists there. It was something of a joke between us for a while. As much as I would have liked to know if there were any other people in those services that believed the way I did I knew there was no way I could ever get on stage and ask that. I couldn’t even ask it to individuals as we talked together. For one thing I didn’t fully understand my own belief back then, for another I understood that claiming to be a monergist or a Calvinist was a good way to get yourself thrown out of a ‘church’.

Even then I wondered why admitting to believing that way could get you thrown out of a ‘church.’ What was it about the kind of belief that I had, that my husband has, that could have gotten us kicked out of many ‘church’ buildings? I understand better now. We are a threat to the professing ‘Christian’. Just the way I have been a threat to the ‘Christians’ in my family in the past, just the way Christ was a threat to the unbelievers in His time. We, quite simply, speak against the lies that the professing ‘Christian’ bases their entire faith on and that is a threat to their security in eternity. Therefore the ‘church’ that may accept and atheist, that may accept a devil worshiper, won’t accept a true child of Christ.

Rather than listening to a monergist, the professing ‘Christian’ would prefer to throw them out of their ‘church’. It would seem that if what they believe is right then it wouldn’t be any harder to hear what the monergist has to say and to refute what they believe with the beliefs of the professing ‘Christian.’ It would seem that way but it doesn’t appear to be that way. It’s much easier to get angry, defensive and kick them out of their midst.

Why?

Is it because most of what is considered the ‘church’ today doesn’t understand what they believe well enough to give a convincing argument for why they believe it? Is it because they don’t know enough of the Bible to be able to use it to defend their faith? Is it because they cling to their easy believism and don’t want anyone trying to shake it?

There’s a man with a program where he goes around challenging people from crowds on the street to explain their beliefs…then he tells them why they’re wrong. My husband introduced me to that show and I must admit that of the different Christian programs we have watched I believe he is my favorite. There’s just something about seeing these people, no matter what they believe, stumble through a defense of those beliefs. How can a person place their entire existance in a belief they can’t defend? How can they believe in something they can’t fully explain? Now, some of these people can and do defend their beliefs very well but most of them don’t. Most of them stumble through their defense and more or less go around in circles with what they’re saying. They believe what they believe and that makes it right for them and so long as it’s right for them than it’s right.

To me that sounds like nothing more than confusion.

The other day my husband and I were listening to a different Christain program and the man speaking said something to the effect of when you take God out of right and wrong you no longer have right and wrong. Up is no longer up, down is no longer down, left is no longer left, right is no longer right.

And wrong is not wrong.

Without God there is no line by which to determine what is right and what is wrong, there’s no line by which to measure all of life.

God can, at least to some extent, be found in most ‘church’ buildings. God is the basis of the sermons, He is the reason the congregation gets together. On the surface. But the question must be asked ‘which God do they gather for?’ Is it the God of the Bible? Or is it the God they have made using bits and pieces of the Bible? Is it the God they find acceptable because they have created Him in their minds using the parts of the Bible that don’t offend them?

I have been in many ‘church’ buildings. Some only once, some weekly for years. And through all of those experiences I formed an idea of who and what God was based on the general belief of the ‘church.’ My family held the same beliefs as I was growing up and so I was raised being ‘fed’ a steady diet of a God that doesn’t exist. As a child that ‘God’ was more like something we did, we played at belonging to Him when it suited us, but He was never the God of our lives. When I was grown He kept the same place for a while and then steadily gained more and more ground in my life until He was the God of my life, He was the measuring stick I used to determine everything else in life. Only by then…He was the God of the Bible and not the one I had been raised on.

Sadly most ‘church’ going ‘Christians’ don’t have the same God. They don’t measure life by the same God. Many of those ‘Christians’ can’t even defend the faith they believe in.

Recently, I was something one of the main women that attends the ‘church’ I sometimes go to wrote. And I found it disturbing. Now this ‘church’ claims no denomination. They simply believe from the Bible. At least on the surface.

When I first discovered that ‘church’ I found that to be a good thing. And to some degree I still do. But I’ve also discovered that no denomination often means a melting pot of denominations. I didn’t know when I started going to that ‘church’ that being nondenominational meant the beliefs of all those other denominations come into the ‘church’, that they are allowed and encouraged. I didn’t know it just meant that they don’t stick to a certain denominational belief. More or less it meant…they adopt them all.

The writing of the woman that I recently saw was 100% prosperity gospel. I found that disturbing because this woman holds a place of importance in this ‘church’. But I know of others in the same ‘church’ that lean the same way. Even the preacher sometimes seems to lean that way.

Not all that long ago I read online where ‘most’ ‘Christians’ believe to one degree or another in the name it and claim it ‘gospel’.

Is it surprising then that they despise the true gospel? Is it surprising that they can’t stand to be in the presence of those that represent it?

"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.… John 15:18-19

No…it isn’t surprising. What’s surprising is how many can’t defend even the basics of what they believe in. I’ve long admired the Amish people. I think anyone that believes so strongly in something that they can stand against the world deserve our respect for what they’re doing. I know much of what they believe isn’t in keeping with what Scripture teaches. I know that a good part of their religion is works righteousness. But they believe strongly enough in it to stand for it.

Against all opposition.

That, to me, is way more than most ‘Christians’ do. I’ve known many ‘Christians’ that are like chameleons. They change their actions, words, and behavior based on the company they’re with. When they’re at ‘church’ or among ‘church’ friends they wear their ‘church’ face. When they are at work they talk and act as those at work talk and act, when they’re with friends they talk and act as their friends do. They don’t stand for Christ no matter the company they keep.

What kind of ‘Christian’ does that make them?

So many of the ‘Christians’ in our society blow where the wind blows them. Even if they hold fast to what they believe in they don’t stand strongly for it. And many of them are easily swayed by the teaching of this preacher or that preacher. They are influenced by this book or that one. They accept and adopt this new teaching or that one. Not because they change what they believe in but because they have no measuring stick by which to determine if this teaching is Biblical or not. Because the ‘God’ they believe in is made up of what they want Him to be then any teaching can easily fall into the teaching of their ‘God’.

Why is it so hard for them to take Scripture as Scripture? To accept what it says…the way it says it, without adding to it or taking away from it.

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this Book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this Book" Revelation 22:18-19.

When a person believes in ‘God’ based off what they want the Bible to say about Him, when they make ‘God’ out to be what they want Him to be…are they not changing the Bible to suit themselves? When a person says God is love, when they believe He holds no wrath or anger…have they not taken away much of what the Bible teaches in order to believe in the ‘God’ they have built up in their minds? When they say ‘God’ just wants to bless us…have they not changed God into a god of nothing but benevolence?

Whether or not they’re changing Scripture as it’s written…they’re changing it in their minds, in the words they use as they speak to others and as they teach them. They may hold the exact same Bible in their hands as I hold in mine but their Bible doesn’t say the same thing mine does because they pick and choose what they want to believe from its pages.

They ignore the black and white of the text to read a hazy gray that only they, and others like them, can see. And if you can’t see that hazy gray writing they will gladly enlighten you with their beliefs until you can see it.

If you try and show them the black and white in your Bible, or in the identical one they hold, they can’t or won’t see it. So much of the modern ‘church’ despises the Truth. They hate true doctrine. They abhor Scripture as it is written. Assuming they get so far as to see it which most of them don’t because they are blinded to the Truth. And because they are blinded, because they believe in their false ‘God’ they hate any teaching that might tell them they’re wrong.

They cling to their easy believeism. They hold fast to the faith they have in the ‘God’ that believes the way they do, the God that wants them to have everything they want, the God that stands for everything they stand for.

I saw an article online not all that long ago about a preacher that said abortion was Biblical. This was a preacher that used the Bible. Apparently it was the same Bible most Christians and professing ‘Christians’ use. But somewhere in his Bible it condoned abortion.

Not in my Bible!

My Bible says murder is wrong. It’s evil. Yet, this preacher found within the pages of his Bible that abortion is okay. Did his ‘God’ also say it was okay? He must have.

What kind of Christianity is that?

It’s not the Christianity of the Bible and yet this preacher not only believes that abortion is okay but he’s teaching it to others, not just in his ‘church’ but through mass media. His poisonous brand of ‘Christianity’ is being spread far and wide. How many so-called ‘Christians’ have latched onto his belief that abortion is okay because it fits what they want to believe in? How many of them compared what that man said against their Bibles, against the black and white version of what the Bible is, and realized that that man is nothing short of a false teacher?

‘Christians’ often grab onto any teaching that fits what they believe because it lets them continue to believe that way, it doesn’t challenge their belief, it doesn’t make them question if they may be wrong. So many ‘Christians’ want a watered down, easily changed, happy go lucky brand of ‘Christianity’ so that they don’t have to give up the things they love.

They go to ‘church’ on Sunday so that they can be encouraged to continue believing those things. They don’t want to hear a sermon on sin. They don’t want to be told that they quite possibly are going to hell even though they think they’re saved. They don’t want to be told that the movie they’re planning to watch that afternoon is sinful. They just want to be given a sermon that supports what they already believe, that might push them to ‘grow’ in that belief just a tiny bit. They don’t want a day long sermon that breaks for lunch then comes back. They want music that plays on their emotions, that lifts their spirits, that puts them in a good mood so that they can handle the twenty to thirty minute sermon that follows. And a good number of them are ready to leave for lunch long before that’s over.

They want an instant meal of ‘Biblical’ teaching that they can throw in the microwave and eat while sitting before their favorite program. They want to be encouraged to believe what they believe but they need it cut into bite sized pieces for them so that they can chew it up and swallow it in the midst of their play.

It isn’t necessarily that they don’t want to learn, they may very well want to learn much about what the Bible teaches. Not so long ago I wrote a post about Noah. In it I spoke of how I was raised to see only the feel good, fuzzy side of the story where Noah saved all the animals on the earth. Those are the types of stories the ‘christian’ is used to and they’re the types of stories they want to hear. If a preacher uses deeper truths in a sermon he’d better be ready to cut it into bite sized pieces so his audience can handle what he’s feeding them.

So many of the services I’ve attended have been filled with stories and anticdotes that fit what was being said. The truth, if it’s given at all, is so cut up, so watered down, that it’s hard to find amidst the stories being told. How much more would a preacher get his audience’s attention if he left the fancy clothes at home, walked onto stage looking like every other common man and said…

You’re going to Hell!

How many more people might he reach with the truth if he followed that by saying….

If you aren’t going to hell it’s only by the grace of God because out of His mercy He saved you.

And how much truth could he teach if he continued with…

If you think that prayer you said when you were 10 saved you and yet you live life as if God doesn’t exist except for the once a week that you come to ‘church’ than you aren’t saved. You’re going to hell if God is nothing more to you than something you do every week. All the crosses hanging on your wall aren’t going to save you. That’s idolatry. All the Bibles in your house, be it one or one thousand, won’t save you if you only use them as coasters. People you’re dying in sin and you don’t even know it. Go home, examine yourselves. See if you truly believe in God or if you believe in a god that lets you continue to live in sin and the lusts of this world. Repent and believe in the God of the Bible, in the God of the Old Testament. Then come back next week for another sermon on the real God.

What would the congregation in that ‘church’ look like next week?  How many would return? Chances are the pews would be empty. There might be one or two people that came back out of the hundreds or thousands that had been there. Even if a hundred came back…it would be a small percentage of those that had packed the room. But oh, how blessed those few would be to have a preacher that taught nothing but Truth.

The offering plate may not get filled, the bills may go unpaid, they might lose their building and have to hold services in each others houses or under a tree but the Truth would be taught.

I have an uncle that used to speak against ‘church’. He was never a believer beyond maybe the basic I believe in God kind of belief but he spoke against ‘church’ buildings. He always said ‘if I want to worship God I don’t need a building with a bunch of hypocrites in it. I can take a Bible out in my yard, sit under a tree, and worship Him there.’ How right he was.

And yet there are numerous ‘church’ buildings in every town, even tiny towns have their share, some towns seems to have one on every corner. There are thousands of ‘churches’ in each state. They draw crowds in by the hundreds of thousands and they teach them about a ‘God’ that doesn’t threaten their belief in the American dream they’re chasing. A ‘God’ that doesn’t tell them they must give up their movies, their video games, their curse words, their…anything.

The pews are packed the instant meals are served. The masses leave the buildings full and happy recharged for another week. They have plugged themselves in for a quick, emotional recharge much the way we plug our cell phones into a power outlet to recharge the battery. They have been refueled for another week and they’re happy to go about their business until their battery starts to run low again.

But what are their batteries running on? Are they charged on the Word of God? On Truth? Have them been fed meat that will sustain them or have they been fed pureed bits of candy and ice cream that will give them a sugar high just long enough to see them through the day and leave a slight lingering feeling of euphoria through the week? Have they been fed on Truth that leaves them wanting more, more, more. Or have they been fed from a sugar coated café that gives them what they want but doesn’t touch what they need?

And they are fed on the same meal week after week after week. One week they may be served gummy candies and taffy, the next week it’s jelly beans, and another week it’s chocolate. Once in a while they’ll be given chocolate covered fruit or yogurt covered raisins. During those meals they’re given  a little of what their bodies, their souls, really need but it isn’t enough to truly nurture them.

And because they don’t have to swallow too much of the good for them stuff they return again and again to eat from the sweet stuff so that they can feel as if they’re feeding themselves what they need when in reality what they’re getting is sugar coated poison.

What would happen if one week they walked into their ‘church’ building and were fed on nuts and meat, fruit and vegetables? What would happen if they were given the Truth and nothing else? And then told they would be presented with the same kind of sermon week after week from that day on?

How long would that preacher last? How long before the ’church’ kicked him out and replaced him with another candy maker? When I was a kid I used to like to watch a movie about a man that owned a candy factory. It wasn’t just any candy factory…he had candy the likes of which no one had ever seen. To my childish mind it was a dream come true. And I watched it time and again. But how many times would I have watched it if, after having seen it the first time and dreaming about all that candy, I turned it on the next time to see a man that owned a green vegetable factory?

Such is the condition of the modern day ‘church’ building.

The congregations not only want candy, they demand it. Feed them Brussel sprouts and they will go to a different candy factory.

If we stop to imagine hundreds, thousands, of people feeding on nothing but sweets, if we imagine them chanting ‘candy’ over and over when vegetables are carried in, if we imagine them leaving a building like angry ants from a disturbed anthill when they’re told there will be no more candy to feast on…it becomes almost humorous but how funny is it when as they clear the doors of the building they fall into the flames of hell?

This is the sad reality of so many ‘Christians’ in our day. They want nothing to do with Truth. Instead they feast on candy coated bits of good for them food that does little for their soul and they’re told by the cooks and servers that what they’re being fed will give them ever lasting life. And they go to hell believing they were saved.

What may seem funny if we imagine it as nothing more than a story becomes gravely disturbing when we think of it in terms of souls that are lost. And it becomes disheartening when we think of what would happen if we were to walk into the midst of those demanding candy for meals and try to feed them green vegetables. They would begin to throw those vegetables at us. They would turn on us and tell us the food we’re trying to feed them is poisoned and they don’t need it and they sure don’t want it. They would kick us out of their restaurants because we were trying to take over for the cooks they love.

And that is exactly what happens when true Christianity is taught to the candy ‘Christian’ crowd. And the crowd is so blinded by the taste of sugar that they can’t begin to see that vegetables just might be good for them.