Continued from “Candy Christianity: A Kinder, Gentler God” (Part 2 of 4) – Copyright 2009 S.A. Buss
The god of this permissive kingdom is not necessarily to be feared. He is neither holy nor sovereign. He is open to interpretation and just as open to your input. He changes and grows. He is the author of many truths. Many paths lead to him. He will be your savior if you feel the need for one, but he need never be your lord.
And he absolutely loves “Girls Gone Wild, Bible Style”.
This shining savior is the bright and morning star; the prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit that works through and towards disobedience. He is the father of lies.
He reviles the sovereign and holy God. He is a murderer from the beginning and a thief of God’s glory. It must come as no surprise that he would so delight in making us accomplices in the plundering of God’s honor. In accepting his invitation, we’ve brought a wide smile to the face of the enemy.
As he smiles, hope always fades. Hope for any good thing cannot exist apart from the sovereign, holy God who is so despised by this rebellious world and its temporary ruler.
This is what the theft of our Lord’s glory has wrought.
We’ve trampled His holiness, dismissed His sovereignty and made every attempt possible to claim His glory as our own.
All in the name of Christ.
We’ve succumbed to our fallen nature, once again becoming god-lovers and God-haters. By human standards we have judged the God of scripture and found Him wanting.
While we may have discarded Him, we may take eternal comfort in the fact that He, by His sovereign grace, has chosen not to repay the favor.
Our perfect, sovereign and holy God has a plan. It is a flawless plan. He clings to us even now, as we have carefully, thoughtfully and diligently sown the seeds and cultivated the path of our own destruction.
“The unregenerate world of sinners despises the Holy Spirit, ‘because it seeth him not.’”
Charles Spurgeon
“And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”
John 3:19 (NLT)
Up is down. Down is up.
True wisdom is foolishness to the world.
True love has been substituted with a pale imitation that knows nothing of discipline and depth. Most congregations are hand fed a watery mix of pop psychology and feel-good, non-confrontational religion while the world burns around them.
The favored myths of the enemy now course through our veins. We have co-opted, assimilated and repackaged each and every one of them for Christian consumption, and the result has been the fermentation of an increasingly Christ-less, and therefore impotent, Christianity.
All by design.
The myths of neutrality and mediocrity have rendered our lives virtually indistinguishable from the God-hating population of a fallen creation. The myths of ease and independent personal ability have us spinning our wheels at the bottom of the pit, digging only deeper down, perpetually inspired by the ridiculous notion that we can do even the slightest good thing apart from Him.
With but one step back from the sovereign Lord of creation, we’ve managed to acquire every bit of freedom that our fallen wills could have ever hoped for and much, much more.
Our birthright as sons and daughters of the King has been sold, or, more accurately, given away. At least that was our intent.
Most thankfully, in this instance and in the ultimate sense our intent is of no account.
No matter the level of betrayal, idiocy or stupidity we demonstrate as we persist in catering to the standards of a world that hates the God we claim to love, He is faithful and utterly undeterred. The sovereign creator and ruler of the universe has a plan. It is perfect in all ways, at all times and for all people. It cannot be thwarted, compromised or even ever-so-slightly adjusted by the will of demons, angels or men.
Continued in “God’s Call to War: Fire Breathing Christianity” (Part 4 of 4)
Copyright 2009-2014 Scott Alan Buss
Well said. Just got done being berated for not being "kind" enough in defense of Christianity after someone lumped all Christians in with the Westboro Baptist crowd. I hate how neutered and impotent we are expected to be as Christians. The "love of Christ" has come to mean the witless and passive acceptance of the areligious and irreligious co-opting of culture.