LIVING ON PURPOSE

"For Those Who Prefer The Jesus Life To The Self-Life"

My Photo
Name:
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Danny and Lorena pastor Christ The Good Shepherd in Las Vegas, NV. They also directly oversee Iglesia Cristo El Buen Pastor in Acapulco, Gro., Mexico.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

FINALLY GETTING THE MESSAGE

It's taken a while, but the world is finally getting the message. After decades of hearing that all God wants is to be allowed to improve their lives with a wonderful plan, they are now getting the second part of the message from the seeker-friendly church. What is it? It is that we should eliminate anything that would make seekers feel uncomfortable.

So the world has taken that message to heart. The name of Christ makes them feel uncomfortable, so it's logical then that traditional Christmas greetings should be replaced by "Happy Holidays."

The seeker-friendly church also suggested removing the cross from the church building so that seekers wouldn't feel uncomfortable. So we shouldn't complain that California removed the cross from their State Seal.

The Ten Commandments were taken out of the gospel message, so we need not be concerned that they were taken off State properties.

Teaching "Intelligent Design" in schools also has uncomfortable connotations of "God" being behind it, so the natural selection in schools is the only alternative: Unintelligent Design--the unscientific explanation of the "Theory of Evolution."

So, what should we do to reach this younger generation? Should we sign more petitions or somehow protest? I don't think that will do much for our cause. I think that we should rather do what we have been told to do. We should "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." There's a novel idea. But how do we do that when can't go into schools and mention God?

After putting Santa into our limo (our ministry was given a limo which we are using to raise money for "The Children's Hunger Fund"), and giving out stuffed toys after I had preached, I had an idea. I purchased an extremely authentic-looking gorilla suit. Picture this. We park the limo on the street at a wide area of the sidewalk, right outside a high school just before thousands of students pour out of school. The gorilla is standing in the limo sticking out of the hole in its roof. He climbs out and sits on the hood of the vehicle; I stand up and say,

"Hello. My name is Ray. What an incredible country this is. We are known as 'One Nation Under God,' we have 'In God we trust' on our money, an amazing 90% of Americans believe in God, millions go to church . . . yet there are laws that are being passed in this country saying that it is illegal to talk to school kids about 'Intelligent Design' because it has connotations of God behind it. They only want you to hear one side--the theory of evolution. I don't think they should censor what you hear, so I'm going to talk for a few minutes about Intelligent Design, and as a token of appreciation of you listening, we are going to give out these gifts after I have spoken. I believe the most compelling argument for Intelligent Design is your conscience. So that's what I'm going to speak to today, by going through a few of the Ten Commandments . . . " etc.

If they refuse to teach Intelligent Design in schools, we will teach it outside the schools. What's more, we will take the limo to wherever there are crowds of people--to beaches, outside malls, parades, and spring breaks . . . wherever. We are not going to wait for the world to come to Church because we know that the world hates the light of the gospel, and will not come to it "lest their deeds are exposed" (John 3:20). We are taking the battle to them.

This is because we are at war, and we are not fighting liberals, school boards, politicians, the ACLU or judges. The Bible says that we "wrestle not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12). Instead, we wrestle against a subtle enemy that is trying to tighten a steel noose around a complacent Church. In the last few months, we have been banned from preaching on American soil outside of the local courts. We have been forbidden from exercising our First Amendment rights and preaching at the local DVM to lines of people, before it even opened. We can no longer go into schools and mention God.

It's easy to forget that we have a very real enemy that "walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). But we know that if God is for us nothing shall be against us and that we have been issued with "weapons of warfare that are not carnal but mighty thought God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4). We have tossed away the "carnal" feather duster of the modern message, and have replaced it with the "mighty" Ten Great cannons of God's Law. The Law makes the enemy tremble. The rousing words of General Douglas McArthur are applicable for a conflict such as this: "The enemy is in front of us. The enemy is behind us. He is to the right and to the left of us. He can't get away this time!"

Maybe you haven't been given a limo. Perhaps you would never do what we are planning to do. Maybe you could never see yourself standing up and preaching in public. But there is something you could do, and it's not difficult. Perhaps you could get the Giant Money tracts and pass them out on the sidewalk outside your local school, as kids go in or come out. We have done this, and the tracts go like hot cakes on a cold day in Alaska. They eat them up.

Throw caution to the wind by stepping out in faith. Be like David--run to the battle. Refuse to surrender to the enemy's weapons of intimidation. Take ground for the Kingdom before some tool of the enemy passes legislation to ensure that precious school kids aren't harassed by "religious sects" (that's us). We still have liberty, so use it for the most noble of causes--to fight the good fight of faith.

Whatever you do, do something . . . and do it now.
-- by Ray Comfort

Amen!(article at http://www.livingwaters.com/columns_ray)
Joy in the journey,
Danny

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home