The Enemy Within



Most people that call themselves “Christian” understand that following Jesus means that we will be faced with persecution for our beliefs. The Bible itself tells us as much (2 Timothy 3:12). Our efforts to spread the truth about who Jesus is and what he has done for us will be met with resistance. Forces will try to prevent us from getting that truth to those who truly need it. Who represents the greatest foe for the Christian mission? Is it truly non-believers like the atheists or the agnostics? Or is it groups like the Jews and Muslims that supposedly believe in our God, but don’t believe in Jesus as the divine Savior? Could it be that we Christians are our own worst enemies?

Such a suggestion may seem out of line, but it may indeed be the truth. It certainly isn’t unprecedented. The existence of Christianity is a testament to that itself. After all, Jesus wasn’t a Christian. He was a Jew.  The birth of Christianity came about because most of the Jews  at the time rejected and persecuted the followers of Jesus.  During his life, Jesus' greatest enemies were not those that believed in false gods or no god at all. Even a cursory read of the Gospels will make it clear that his greatest enemies were other Jews like the Pharisees that did not want to embrace the truth.

In Matthew 23:15 Jesus said:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Jesus was chastising the Pharisees for their evil ways while also making it clear that false teachers can foil the mission of bringing people to God. Thankfully, we now have access to the Holy Spirit, and through that Spirit we each have our own personal connection to God. While we all may benefit from good spiritual leaders, those leaders do no decide our salvation. That doesn’t mean that people who misrepresent the Faith are not a problem. Our mission is to reach those who do not know Jesus. Who can harm that goal more than those who claim to be on the same mission, but spread misinformation? Jesus warned his followers about false prophets, those that would portray themselves as his followers, but would be against his efforts (Matthew 7:15). Do we not see people who purposely or unwittingly play that role every day?

The Bible tells us to love those around us, but we constantly see people who claim to be Christians and preach hate. The Bible tells us that the wage of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and that all sins can be forgiven (1 John 1:9). Still, we constantly hear so-called Christians judge and condemn gays while embracing and accepting the liars, adulterers, and bigots all around them. The Bible tells us that we should not focus on building wealth and riches on earth (Matthew 6:19-21), but we constantly hear about supposed leaders in the Faith using the Faith to enrich themselves. They even go so far as to suggest that God is responsible for their ill-gotten gains. Many of us see these things, know they are wrong, but do not want to speak out against brothers and sisters in the Faith. However, we must understand that we are not the only ones that see the problems in those actions. Nonbelievers, the ones we are supposed to reach, also see those bad actions. How much harder is it for Christians to convince non-believers to follow Jesus when those non-believers do not believe that Christians truly follow Jesus themselves?

We must be careful not to be false prophets that lead would-be believers astray. However, perhaps more importantly, we must not allow a distorted religion to deter people from wanting to know Jesus. If we do not practice what we preach or reveal false teachings and actions for what they are, we will be the ones interfering with our own mission, and, as a result, become our own worst enemies.

Chris Lawyer

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You Don't Know Their Story. What You Will See is God's Glory.

Image
  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. - Psalm 46:1 Let me tell you about a man, a woman, a child, this could be you, we don't know.   You don't know their story but what you will see is God's glory. Let me tell you about the pain, the hurt, the abuse they received from someone they knew, a family member, a friend, maybe even you. You don't know their story, what you will see is God's glory. Let me tell you about a man whom you may have heard of who Fed five thousand people, some who were children, with five loaves of bread and two fish. Remember the person who saw you and asked you for money to get something to eat saying: "can you help me please?" You don't know their story, what you will see is God's glory. You don't know who God will use to bless you. You don't know how God will use your story of what you went through but what you will see is God's glory. Let me tell you about the heart God gave you to ca
Read more

Holyween

Image
                                This year UBC will be celebrating Holyween. It’s probably obvious, but Holyween is supposed to be a more Christian friendly version of Halloween.  The name Halloween is a contracted version of the day’s original name All Hallow’s Eve . It started out simply as the day before a past Christian holiday named All Hallow’s Day (also known as Hallowmas). Interestingly enough, the word hallow means to honor as holy, so essentially, the titles Halloween and Holyween mean nearly the same thing.  So, what’s the purpose of even using the new name? Well, regardless of what the name Halloween actually means, the holiday's complicated history has taken it far from its holy beginnings. At best, it has become a commercially supported holiday meant to give kids a little fun but mostly sell a lot of candy and costumes. At worst, it’s become a day to celebrate darkness, evil, and the worst parts of the human experience. As with most holidays, Halloween is really
Read more

Love Not Like

Image
As Christians, we must never forget how important love is. Christianity truly is a religion of love. You can probably judge how much a person adheres to the Faith by how loving they actually are. The Bible is clear on this. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 says: 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. For anyone who has read the Bible, this should be an amazing pass
Read more