The gospel according to....

Lately, it has come to me how STRONGLY people stand up for what they decide to be true.

I suppose when it first entered my mind was when I recently walked into the break room and found myself (once again) in the middle of a vociferous religious discussion. (Yes, very sinful people can have very definite religious beliefs.)

Something about the last time that I heard one of these discussions left me with the very strong impression that these people are so sure that what they are saying is the way things should be that they would have no problem writing a gospel according to ______ [pick any one of their names; there are many people who are that adamant about what they believe.)

Couple this with what I have also found to be true in previous experience of talking to some of these same people individually -- just me and them-- that they are NOT at all familiar with the Bible except in bits and pieces.

Oh, they are very quick to quote Matt 7:1

JUDGE NOT....

(They don't even know the rest of the passage.)

Or,

"There is none righteous, no not one."

They will say that you don't have the love of God if you do something they don't like. (In this last discussion they were agreeing --at least-- that some person who was supposed to be a minister could not be right and not smile more than he does.)

They have absolutely no concept of the teachings of God's word that pertain to such things as "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world" or separating from those who with their "good words and fair speeches" are working to tear down unity--or "mark those who cause division and avoid them" or "shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." Or any scripture that lays down a directive of NOT doing something for the sake of the church or for unity instead of upholding individual "rights".

They would have fallen into the same lot that others of that day fell into, the ones who called Jesus a sinner, if they had happened to come into the temple the day he turned over the tables and made a whip and drove out the moneychangers.

LOVE?
Where is his love?
(They'd see no divine in his actions.)

I once worked closely with a co-worker who God was ministering to. He was listening to me. (He even came to church with me.) He actually decided to apply himself and find out more about the Bible. His way of doing that was to begin in Genesis and read through. (I did NOT tell him to start there; he told me later that he did this.) When he got to the parts of the old testament where God was wiping out sinners for their ungodly deeds, he put down his Bible and walked away. He could not believe in a god that had no more "love" than that. He wanted a religion where kindness was manifested. The God I served was cruel and the Bible proved it.

At least this guy was honest. He didn't reject the word as not true. He rejected the God that would DO THINGS AS THE WORD TELLS US GOD DOES.

And there's a host of folks out there JUST LIKE HIM.

The difference is they don't even go to the trouble of reading their Bible and saying,

"HEY, I don't like the way you have decided things should be.
THIS IS HOW I THINK IT OUGHT TO BE."

They just create their own version of the bible; it becomes "the gospel according to [them]". And it's infallible. And it's indisputable. Why? Because that is what they have decided. And their highmindedness, setting themselves up to be higher than God, actually causes them to turn around and ACCUSE us of doing the very thing they ARE DOING. They say WE are highminded.

We are born again. We study the word. We find out what it teaches. We die out to ourselves, give up our lives, and are willing to do whatever we must to be sanctified. We have God's Spirit leading us into truth. We have HIS ministry teaching us the truth. We forsake not the assembling of ourselves together so that we can keep on studying what the word teaches. We are open to the Spirit and walk in whatever light He gives us. We have gone to great lengths to find out what GOD says. And we believe what God says and believe it is necessary for EVERYONE to believe it.

And we are the ones that are highminded.

We have sacrificed our ways for God's, our thinking for His, our lives are for His glory.... all that we are, all that we have, all that we hope for is all wrapped up in Him. BUT THEY KNOW WHAT GOD EXPECTS.

Isn't that odd?

Let someone say 'GOD says' and teach how things REALLY SHOULD BE and bedlam breaks loose.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE to tell me that there is ONE WAY and that YOU know what it is.....(and the unsaid part is) because it is contrary to what I HAVE DECIDED IS RIGHT.

Well, just WHO should decide how we live?
Does ANYONE have truth?
Is there truth?
Should every man be able to decide what is right in his own eyes and it be right?

Does our CREATOR get any voice at all in saying how man should live?
Does He get ANY input?
How do we learn what HE SAYS?
Does every man decide for himself what God meant?
Will that produce unity?
Do we believe unity (being one) is important to Jesus? (John 17)

And, does GOD get to decide who teaches us?


Is God unrighteous to destroy unrighteousness? (as He did in the Old Testament)
What if we don't agree with the way HE thinks things should be done now?
Do we have the authority, power, and influence to override His directives?

If everyone sins, who could possibly be a hypocrite?
There could be no such person.
If a sinning Christian is not a hypocrite, who would be one?

***************

You may not like it that I KNOW TRUTH.
But God is fair.
You too can KNOW TRUTH.

You too could be born again, delivered from sin, delivered from self.

You too can study God's word diligently, assemble with the saints. be continually searching the word, and doing the things it teaches.

You have that choice. But you have to recognize that you must lose your life to find life in God.

God is NOT a respecter of persons. He is not willing that any should perish.

It's just that you really CAN'T make up your own gospel and be right with God.