It’s amazing to me that people in parts of the world other than the West are more open to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here in the West self-righteous multiculturalists and skeptics in general are the ones insisting that we Chrisitans keep our beliefs to ourselves so as not to offend other people, and claiming to be the open-minded and tolerant ones when in reality they are the ones who can’t stand to hear the truth. They stop their ears at the merest hint that the Christian message may be valid because that’s the very thing that threatens their own worldview. They long to dispense with the binary “either-or” scenario but in hypocrisy create their own: either we are with them or we are their enemies.
The same people will preach unity, but it has to be unity on their terms. It’s an ethereal, intangible unity which must include the things they love but exclude the things they oppose. It is therefore a charlatan or more directly a trap: a fake unity held up as a carrot in front of the mule in order to lead us all in their direction. It’s a unity where nothing is really true except what they insist is true. No thank you-I’m not falling for it.
UNITY. Can the world ever be unified? I would say it can’t. Even within the Church-as haters love to point out-there is division with countless churches, denominations, schisms and branch-offs. Other religions are no less fractured so that within Hinduism for example, you can have no god, one god, ten gods or a million gods-as many as you like-so long as you are “sincere” in your path. Sincerity trumps truth. Similarly in Buddhism there are numerous schools -some in vehement opposition to each other. It’s a human problem, and to my mind it’s healthy. It’s healthy because no one school of thought which may be flawed or dangerous, and no one group of power-hungry people can get a grip on all of us.
I would even suggest that it’s a good thing in the eyes of God also. Look at the account of the Tower of Babel found in Genesis. All the civilized world centered in Mesopotamia wanted to “unify” and to build a tower to the stars in honor of its own cleverness and in order to cement that unity. Religion was the centre and the driving force of growing cities at the time, and religion sought an iron grip on the lives of all people. The very same thing has happened in Africa, South and central America and probably all over the world. But God had different ideas. God will use even the godless to destroy unity which is in opposition to Him.
UTOPIA. God didn’t and doesn’t want unity under godless philosophy, false religion or political pontifications, and the current movement towards a global socialist state cannot and will not succeed: Socialism never did unite except under the boot, and God will ensure that it does not in the future. The false notion that the creator of all things wants us to unify under a godless banner or under a false god such as the one being lifted up now in Europe is a colossal blunder from the heart of humanity. This humanity has rejected the one truth of the one true God and has therefore departed from all wisdom and common sense. Nothing can succeed ultimately if it’s not established in truth. Any tower to the heavens will be torn down or left to rot. The house build on sand will fall, and God himself will see that it does.
One of the reasons the Christian gospel is hated with such venom in the West is that it is “divisive”, so haters attempt to bring unity by separating us all from the gospel and opening the door to a plethora of other contradictory and so divided beliefs instead. Diversity does not bring unity any more than darkness can bring light. The phrase, “Diversity is our Strength” is no better than the Orwellian phrase, “War is Peace”.
Limp-wristed and half-hearted people calling themselves “Christians” and Christ-haters in general are the ones dividing the West. They will pretend that God wants us all to sing “Cum-by-Yah” together under their definition of truth, but this is the antithesis of the Bible’s message. In Revelation God entreats us to distance ourselves from the whore of Babylon-the metaphor for the ages-long attempt to unify humanity under false religion and philosophy apart from the one true God. This false religion includes all the cacophony of beliefs and thoughts which are considered acceptable. All but the Christian gospel message can enter that melting pot, but it’s the melting pot which is opposed by the creator and the sustainer of all things:
“‘Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).
We can’t physically “come out” of the fallen world we are living in, so God’s intention is that we separate ourselves from its philosophy, its godlessness and its delusion of independence from our Creator. Humanity pretends it can go its own way without seeking the singular truth of God, but it can have no more success than can a tree deciding to live without roots, soil or water.
THE DAY OF DIVISION. The unavoidable movement of human history is towards the return of Jesus Christ. The day of reckoning is coming, and there is no escape. In the meantime God seeks not to unite us all under lies and immorality, but to divide us. Revelation in particular speaks of a harvest-the harvest of souls-and the harvest theme is featured in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Harvest involves the production of one useful crop being separated from all other worthless plants. Far from teaching that we are all God’s children and that all roads lead to heaven, Jesus taught that there is one singular narrow way, and most notably that he is the Way.
In one parable Jesus gave a word picture of a farmer who sewed seed on his land. While he was away his enemy sewed tares among his wheat, and when his workers asked if they should pull up the weeds, he told them not to, because they may pull up wheat by mistake. He told them to wait until the harvest. At that time the weeds would be burned, but the wheat gathered into barns (Matthew 13:24-43). Jesus defines his parable:
“He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels” (verses 37-39).
Not an isolated story by any means, the teaching of Jesus directly warned of the division of mankind in many ways. On one occasion he told his disciples and those around him,
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).
Jesus was not condoning physical violence-he was speaking of a division. Some would be on his side; the rest would be on the outside of his kingdom and on the wrong side of history. He clarified this principle further, as found in John’s gospel:
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).
We could call this “unfair” or “harsh and judgmental” as skeptics do, but they’re missing something. God wants his kingdom to be filled with those who want to be in it – a logical idea is it not? Why take people to his heaven who don’t like him or his people? Jesus Christ told Pilate, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). This is a very simple truth but very profound. Reject Christ and you are rejecting all that is true, all that is beautiful and all that is lasting.
If you are not in Christ you are already under condemnation-that’s why he invites you to come to him and be saved. He does not want you to be outside of his kingdom, but you are either in it or you are outside, and like the tree without roots, soil or water. There is no abiding life without the Lord of Life.
The world is being divided between the haves and the have-nots; between those who have salvation in Jesus Christ and those who do not. This division will reach a climax shortly before the return of Christ. For those concerned about the millions who’ve never heard the gospel I’ve written about them on this blog* If you’ve heard the gospel you’ve had the opportunity to “come out of” the whoredom of human thought and worship: what have you done with that opportunity? The beauty of hearing the gospel is in having the chance to see your lost state and so find salvation. The horror of hearing the gospel is that in rejecting it you will have no possible excuse when you appear before the creator and the judge of us all.
*Do People Who Never Hear the Gospel Go to Hell? Part 1 of 2. – Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought
Do Those Who Never Hear the Gospel Go to Hell? Part 2 of 2. – Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought
