One
of the ways that the Devil tries to silence the Church, in fact the main way,
is accusation. After all he is “the Accuser of the brethren” [Revelation 12: ]
If you are a Christian who knows how to stand in the imputed righteousness of
Christ, and he can’t get anything on you; then he’ll hurl someone else’s sins
at you to shut you up.
The
classic one of course is THE CRUSADES. “What about THE CRUSADES?” Well WHAT
about the Crusades? They were well over a thousand years ago. Just a bit before
my time! I’m a bit fuzzy about the
Crusades but I do know that the Crusades were to take back the Holy Land which
the Turks had captured. There were a lot of nasty things that happened on both
sides. However the Accuser wants me to feel guilty about the Crusades so I will
feel I don’t have a right to speak up for the sake of the Kingdom. I was once
even accused of being responsible for the Holocaust ‘That you Christians did.’
Huh! Hitler may have been taken to Church and sprinkled as a baby, I really don’t
know; but he was no Christian. Jesus said that His people would be known for
their love.
The-
right- up –to- date accusation is the current investigation going on into the
abuse of children in Church institutions. “What about THAT? THAT ought to shut
you up!”
Jesus
told the story about the wheat and the tares.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good
seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among
the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a
crop, then the tares also appeared.
So the servants of the owner came and said to him,
‘Sir did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
He said to them, ‘an enemy has done this,’ The
servants said to him, ‘do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares
you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest,
and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather
together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat
into my barn.’”
Matthew
13.
Don’t
confuse the organized Church with the true Church – the Body of Christ. The
tares are there, we know that; but the wheat is still working on producing a
harvest. Because some person who calls himself a Christian does something
disgusting, does that then negate my right to speak up? The Devil would like me
to think so. But I don’t! And by the way because I don’t endorse homosexuality
doesn’t mean that I’m ‘phobic’ or that I ‘hate’ people. As a Christian I believe that when God says
something is wrong, then that is that, and the Word is very clear on the
matter. God loves all people but He doesn’t endorse everything people do.
The
organized Church is going through a cleansing and that’s good. God is going to
give us all a good shake up. He is going to ‘once more shake the Earth ‘ to
bring down those things which can be shaken and reveal the kingdom which cannot
be shaken [Hebrews 12:26-28]; and He is going to cleanse His Church. He is
going to come ‘suddenly come to His temple,…He will purify the sons of Levi and purge
them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in
righteousness.” Malachi 3.
Meanwhile,
keep on keeping on. Don’t be intimidated
by the Accuser. His day is coming. [Check
this out in Revelation 12 and 20:10.] Jesus is working on the Church “till we all come to the knowledge of the Son
of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ.” [Ephesians 4:13] Look out
then Devil!
It is not time to cave in under pressure. It's time to be bold and stand our ground. Ultimately truth will prevail.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that Val...You are a wonderful teacher as the Holy Spirit bears witness through you..
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