Soapbox. This is our Soapbox, our little wooden crate from which we speak in the public square of the Internet. I have no mistaken idea that it’s a lectern. It’s just a soapbox. I’m just a guy with an opinion or two, moving from point A to point B. My point A is Now, and my point B is Heaven. I have no doubts as to my destination.
I look at the troubled world and see clearly where a lot of the trouble comes from. Here we go.
God created man. Man fell from Grace, bringing sin and death into the world. All of the world’s generations of populations, all the way back to Adam and Eve, fall into one of two categories: those running To God
and those running From God.
Here are three examples of those who ran away from God, and enjoined many others to follow them.
Man One: Familiar with scripture, but rejecting the Word as written, sought to find God another way. While on a spiritual journey, dreamt of/ met an Angel who delivered a new revelation of God.
Man Two: Familiar with scripture, but rejecting the Word as written, sought to find God another way. While on a spiritual journey, dreamt of/ met an Angel who delivered a new revelation of God.
Man Three: Familiar with scripture, but rejecting the Word as written, sought to find God another way. While condemning every foundational belief of Christianity, he began...a Bible Study.
In each case the men were aware of the scriptures-and knew that the Bible condemned them, as it says that “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”. So they started running. (Run Forrest! Run!)
Rather than accepting the Gospel, they searched for another way, any other way-and came up with their own.
A side note-people are not born Christians-they are born sinners. There is no such thing as a baby being born into a Christian family automatically being Christian. It is a decision-God calls, and we answer, running towards God after running from Him.
Each of the men mentioned above worked out their own theology, borrowing greatly from the Bible, as counterfeit men of God.
The Apostle John wrote, warning the Christians of his day (and also us) against false prophets who were counterfeit men of God: “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”
A few verses later John states: “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the anti-Christ, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”
And that brings us back to our three unwise men. It doesn’t matter if you put Joe Smith as Man One or Mohammed. Their stories are identical, though the theologies and belief systems each spawned are greatly different. Both borrow from the Bible, and each rejects the idea that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, one third of the trinity.
Mohammed supposedly had a vision of the Angel Gabriel, Joe Smith the Angel being Nephi-actually, some say it’s Nephi, sometimes it’s a different being, “the Angel Moroni, the glorified son of Mormon.” Doesn’t really matter, as neither Nephi, Moroni nor Mormon exist beyond the imaginings of Joe Smith.
Man Three was the theological Michael Moore of his day: rejecting obvious truth, he decided to redefine God and create his own. Through his Bible Studies and writings, Charlie Russell rejected not only that Jesus was the Christ, but also that He was God. Russell believed that Jesus was the first created being, rather than the Creator. Though they now disavow his teachings, Charlie Russell created the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Why was each of these man so successful in leading people away from God?
It all comes back to Jesus Christ. They are many more people running From Him than To Him. And along the way, they are encouraged in their disbelief by false men of God who point them towards Hell and call it Heaven.
A baby born to Muslims is considered Muslim, a baby of Mormons is Mormon, one born to a Jehovah’s Witness family is a Jehovah Witness when he grows up. If salvation is dependent upon the belief system of the family you are born into, it’s all a lottery; you get a ticket and may win just by the faith your parents hold.
But Jesus is the Christ, and in following Him, running to Him, we turn our backs on the rest of the world. Though we may call out to those running opposite, and try to tell them they’re going the wrong way, we run to Him. And are never led astray. He said, “Come to me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Any (ANY-Mormons, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, Scientologists, Gaia worshippers, etc.) who are heavy laden with sin can come to Christ and receive His rest.” And I can tell you from personal experience that it is Wonderful.
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