"Christian Nation" Part V

First From Julie's Keyboard:

Discontent Church Folks?

Have you noticed lately the seeming "discontent" among Christians in the concept of just what type of services are being offered in our local church gatherings?  It should be concerning to us just how "user friendly" many of our churches are becoming.  Is there something wrong with trying to make our churches adequate for the seeming needs of every age level or group type?  Does it mean in Scripture when Paul tells us how he is "made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some," that we should offer a smorgasbord of classes and activities in our assemblies?  You decide!

I've been down this road myself with the "people pleasing" idea of helping out my church gathering.  Truthfully, I've been convicted over having "good ideas" as opposed to being still before the Lord and knowing what He intended.  As we think on this issue which is such a matter of controversy in so many areas, I would like to post some remarks from  the Rev. A.W. Tozer.

 "Every age has its own characteristics.  Right now, we are in an age of religious complexity.  The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us.  In its stead are programs, methods, organizations, and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.  The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly and the peace of God scarcely at all." - - - A. W. Tozer.

Is it true?  Are we guilty of straying from the seriousness of "worship in spirit and truth" by a spectrum of  "great ideas" designed for any preference?  What must we do?  How can we remedy this form of irreverence, if we deem this to be so?  Mr. Tozer responded with this:

     "If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him and then proceed in the way of simplicity.  Now, as always,God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent.  We must simplify our approach to Him.  We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few).  We must put away all effort to impress and come with the guileless candor of childhood.   If  we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond."

This seems to hold each of us accountable for our own worship.  We mustn't blame our local churches for what we must go to the Lord for of our own accord and find.  It is my prayer that we will again simplify, and find that place of true worship as God intended in our gatherings of His body, the church.

Scripture References:

I Corinthians 9;22 "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak:  I am made all things to all men, that  I  might by all means save some."

John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

Have a blessed week,

Julie

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http://spiritualheritage.blogspot.com

"Christian Nation" Part V

I still want to continue our trek across the history of our nation, but to take a slight detour, I would like for the moment to reflect upon something I came across in my study this week.

Again I have had to consider the concepts of good and evil.  In our world there is this ever present contrast of what we perceive as good and evil.  At various times in world history as well as our own here in the states, these lines between such seem to becomes blurred among us.

The depths into which a person can experience good or evil seems to vary to great degrees.  It seems to spring from a willingness of the individual to yield or pursue the spirit behind the experience.  You have the extreme devotions that compel individuals to surmountable feats and then all those who reside somewhere in between.

It appears the evil is more easily yielded to because of our fallen nature and to the good a more deliberate act is demanded from us. An example of this would be my reference to Christopher Columbus in that his understanding, he was called to the New World to bring the Gospel to a people in foreign lands.  That was a noble and good purpose by most peoples standards.  But when Christopher arrived at the islands of the Western Hemisphere and discovered the possibility of gold and wealth,  he seems to have lost sight of his calling and purpose to a great degree. 

The allurement of wealth, prestige, and power caused him to yield to the side of what most would deem as evil.  He as a professing Christian was able to look the other way while murder and rape was being committed in order to keep his position of prestige. 

I am beginning to see that the depths of which we are able to achieve either good or evil depends upon the depth of our pursuit of the goodness of God or the development of our fallen nature.  Many of us are able to appear as good men and women, not because of such a pursuit, but because of the atmosphere in which we live.  It is easy to be a good Christian while sitting in Church.  It becomes more difficult when faced with the possibility of "Gold" (wealth, prestige, and power).  For the Character of Christ to be maintained under such allurements one must have been exercised in this pursuit of God and His Person.

I realize that many of my readers are not Christians and my feeble attempts here may not be adequate to express this in terms of clarity that you can understand, but I must make the attempt to do so.

In 1649, Father Jean de Brebeuf was captured by the Iroquois Indians [league] along with Father Gabriel Lalemant and were subjected to every satanic torture that his captors could devise.    The first Iroquois torture was to pour boiling water over Father Brebeuf's naked body in mockery of the sacrament of baptism.

When, by the grace of God, he denied them the pleasure of hearing him cry out in agony, for the pain of their victims was intoxication to them, they tied a collar of metal hatchets, heated red-hot, around his neck.  Again father Brebeuf disappointed them by remaining silent, and so they fastened a birchbark belt filled with pitch and resin around his waist and set it afire.  And still he remained mute before his tormentors, his face like flint.

Now Father Brebeuf did speak, but not in anguish.  He called out encouragement to his fellow captives.  Enraged, the Indians cut off his lips and tongue and rammed a hot iron down his throat.  Then they cut strips of flesh from his arms and legs and devoured them before his eyes.  But as he was dying, Father Brebeuf was gaining the victory, just as his Savior had on the Cross before him, and the Indians sensed it.  In the end, they cut his heart out and ate it, and drank his blood, in the hope that they could thus gain the spirit power that had given him more courage than any man they had ever seen.

In this account of early American history we see the contrast between the evil and the good.  On the one, hatred and cruelty focused on destroying a perceived enemy.  On the other love and devotion bent on saving an enemy with the love and grace of God. 

One must assume the evil perpetrated by the Indian league was not apparent to them, through their understanding of life and worship of their religion this was not an evil, but something pleasing the their god.  Their society over time had drifted to the adverse side of mankind to the point that this evil could appear as good.  They were blind to the state of their existence, thus the need for the light of the Gospel to which Father Brebeuf was committed.

I will admit Father Brebeuf was not confronted with the allurement of "Gold" (wealth, prestige, and power).  Could he have remained faithful had that been the test of his character?  I think possibly so, for he had already made his commitment as a Jesuit priest to abandon such allurements long before arriving here.  His pursuit of God and his Person had carried him beyond the reaches of most good men, he had acquired a most marvelous character of goodness that would give victory in the face of all evil.  Would that we all should pursue such goodness!

Must we conclude that America was not purposed in the heart of God because Columbus fail in his Character and his purposed mission for God?  I think not, for many such men like Father Brebeuf because of the calling of Columbus made their way to the new world and introduced the light of the Gospel allowing such peoples as the  Iroquois Indian leagues and many others to find and see the light of understanding of this good and evil. 

Many lament the evils done by those arriving in the Western Hemisphere, we must remember the scripture says that the wheat and tares grow up together.  Yes there were tares that came with this movement to the west, but the wheat came and gave of itself selflessly and planted in this new land a seed that prevailed and gave birth to this experience of freedom, the like of which have never existed before.

May we continue our trek next week,

God bless each of you,

David