UNDER SIEGE! A Post Modern Attack on Christianity

THE WORD OF GOD

It never ceases to amaze me, the level to which the Word, and even the existence of God is under attack in the world today. All manner of questioning and denial, as well as out and out blasphemies are being committed on a regular basis. Most of the population of the world is living under the "bliss of ignorance". Nursing the most improvable, nonsensical hogwash ever peddled on the people of the world, namely the entirely bogus, and hoax ridden theory of evolution, simply because it allows men to continue to confess that there is no God. They are reveling in the ignorance that allows them to live lives of self centeredness, and insatiable pleasure seeking, while "living in the now". Stuffing to the back of their souls the notion of the coming reckoning with an almighty God and refusing to retain God in their knowledge, the only time they speak of him is to say things such as: "If there is a God, then how come..."

They can blame him in their hearts for everything wrong in the world, but to give him Glory for that which is right, and for that which is beautiful, they refrain. Man has the utter audacity to stomp his foot and shake his fist towards God when things don't fall just right in his life, yet deny that he exists when called to repentance and obedience. There are those who get out of their $50,000 SUVs and walk into their marble lined workplaces, wondering why if there is a God, are there so many starving people in the world? They can decry the terrible tragedy of hunger impoverished nations and claim that there is no God, while the western nations hold 80% of the world's wealth, and 10% of the world's population.

They say Islamic Men are taught to hate Christianity and capitalism to the point where they are taught that they will be rewarded in heaven if they strap a bomb to their chests and kill women and small children in the name of Allah, an act that some of them commit as early as the age of 17. Men commit war on other nations because they won't bend to their will, they feel threatened, or because it will in some way benefit their people, or even worse, just because they get some kind of a power rush out of ordering the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. To top that off, most of the world's wars are fought in the name of God!

TRAGIC REALITIES

These are all tragic realities that face the world in the 21st Century. In every country on the face of the planet there is now fear, hatred, and death. It is not hard to understand that people live the way they do, when they have no belief in the God of heaven, when they have no moral code that they allow to govern their hearts, and even more so, when they don't know the truth of the salvation and love that can be found in Jesus Christ. The sense of reality and purpose that comes when a man realizes that his life is a time during which he is meant to please God, by benefiting others, loving his neighbor, caring for his wife and family, and to have a one on one relationship with the Father of all of the living is missing. I feel so bad, as I look at the hopeless masses as in those pictures above, and realize that there is no help for them in this world, especially when they utterly refuse to acknowledge God, and turn their hearts over to him. When men change the image of God to a God who would have them kill, and torture even women and small children, delusion takes a place and eventually rules the day. This is evident in the Middle East today, and American Christians call it "radical fundamentalist Islam".

THE REAL ATROCITIES!

But now, let's take a look at the most astounding tragedies that are happening in our world today. It is hard to believe that there could possibly be tragedy more hideous than those listed above, tragedies even more unbelievable than those...

Imagine for a minute if you will, that there is in fact an almighty being, and that some people in the same world DID know Him. Let's suppose that those people were loving and kind, careful and considerate, full of honesty and goodness, and suppose they lived their lives in the bright light of the knowledge of God. They literally danced before him like King David did in the joy of the Lord, and had tasted of the actual presence of the Almighty Creator. They have seen so many times his faithfulness, his kindness, his mercy and compassion... his Love! Imagine they had been healed of lives of sinful passion, and that they had healed others as well. Let's suppose that they had done many wonderful things in his name, and shared many glorious and beautiful moments with him, learning of his love and truth. Let's say that they accepted his truth and his mercy as a way of life, and were blessed with his presence each and every morning when they awoke.

Let's say they walked through their lives with a full knowledge of who Jesus was, and what he stood for, and had literally tasted of the heavenly gift. Filled with love for him, and the humble death that he suffered for them on the cross, even though he could have called 10,000 angels to rescue him from this tragic state, (the ultimate expression of passivism), they worshiped him, lived for him, and made their lives as a mirror of his life. Spreading the news of peace, forgiveness, kindness, love for enemies, bringing the good news to everyone they could reach they honored him. Let's say they even saw their requests answered magically, supernaturally, and they saw the changes they wished for brought about in their world, as if the things that they requested were literally answered before they asked for them. Then something amazing happened!

One day, a stranger came along and offered them gifts, good things, provisions, and self esteem. He promised them that only good can be found in a life that is lived for God, and that having many wonderful things was good. A loving God would certainly want his children to be happy and filled, wanting nothing. Imagine that he told them that even though there is a terribly sinful world around them that they were safe, and that they would not be harmed. Imagine that he told them that it was God's will for them to be free and full and that he wanted them to have nice and easy lives and retirements. He reminds them that they need not suffer any inconvenience, when after all, their master suffered so they didn't have to. Imagine he told them not to worry about the things happening in the world around them, and that God would protect them, and that when he was protecting them, anyone who was killed by that protection was cursed and evil, because after all, God couldn't let anything bad happen to his people.

Let's imagine for a minute, that one day, all the wonderful things they had been given no longer satisfied them fully, and they realized that if they just had a little more, that things would be good again. So the stranger gives them a little more. Shortly after this, they realize that since these wonderful things that they have are from their God, that it must be a good and acceptable thing for them to live their lives around them, to take good care of them, and to make them grow.

In the new found freedom that all things in the world are there to enjoy, and that their God loves them so much that he wouldn't deprive them of ANYTHING, let's say these people begin to go out and take whatever they want from life, knowing that their loving God would certainly want them to have it, because they are so beloved. Let's even say that they begin to become blinded by the incredible pleasure of these wonderful new lives they have, and begin to believe that all things are theirs to take, and that God would never leave them wanting or in discomfort.

Now these same people who formerly were so completely blessed with everything a human being needs: the love of God, the passion of doing his work, the joy unspeakable and full of glory, that accompanies a life of service to him, people who had very little, but were the most happy people the world had ever known, began to forget the words that their master had said to them. They began to forget that fulfillment came from him, and him alone. They forget the spirit that he gave them of love and peace, of mercy and kindness, and begin to take whatever they feel the need to have from the world. They rudely push others aside to get that special thing they... "need". Soon the desire for good things turns to burning, and they work night and day to acquire more, to increase. They even loose trust in their master's ability to provide for them, and they decide to work even harder, even feverishly to lay up in storage for later. They now become spoiled and belligerent, and begin to believe that it is ok to take away from others certain essential items that they will need to continue living in their increasingly "blessed" lives. They even begin to stretch out their boundaries to stretch on to other's property, and when those other people protest, they proclaim with self inspired confidence that those bad people are evil, and need to be shown the truth!

Let's say that at one point these, formerly in love with God, become hateful and greedy, filled with contempt for their fellow man. They decide as a group that certain groups in the world should be wiped off of the face of the planet. Let's say they even went as far, as to say that it is their God's will that these lost people who do not know him and live in ignorance, having never tasted of the truth of his love, nor having heard of his grace, and as a result live pagan lives full of idolatry and wickedness, must surely be hated by their God, and therefore it is ok to kill them, and not to worry about it. Let's say that even when more innocent people had been killed than could fit in most football stadiums while their army crushes them under foot, they not only have no problem with it, but they actually take pleasure in it, and praise it!

Let's say these people became so terrible in their anger toward ungodly men who had not the wonderful message that they had, that they even began to use their spare time, to support the men who were out there killing those people, and even more unbelievable still, they did it in the name of their savior! The same savior, who could have called 10,000 angels to rescue him from a terrible, painful, unjust, and even undeserved punishment. And if we could possibly even think to pretend for a moment that they had gotten to a point that they actually could proclaim with pride and confidence that He must now feel the same as they do about these things! That he was a man that was not a passivist, that he didn't teach them to be as gentle as lambs in the world as his representatives, but rather that they would become like goats, and rams as they mercilessly destroy those who do not know God.

In the interest of more completely serving their new philosophies, they were to let things that they said to each other become more powerful truths for them than the things that HE said to them, and that they might even come to a point where they would just plain ignore the things that he said that don't line up with their new thinking! Man!! Could you imagine the Betrayal... The hideous manifestation of deception that it would take to make something like this come to pass??

I mean its bad enough when those who don't have the amazing truths of the revelation of our Savior do these things. For the people who have deliberately chosen to turn their backs on such a great king to do these things is almost expected! But can you imagine if those who had ACTUALLY KNOWN him, those who had actually touched his garment, those who were at times afraid to look up when they were in prayer because they were afraid they might actually see his face, for THOSE people to do such things, to think that those people could EVER become bloodthirsty seekers of revenge when they suffer the exact persecution their master told them would come?

That they could become the kind of people who would rise up and cheer when thousands are killed for them, even though they know that when things are done to them, that it is actually their God that men hate? That they wouldn't turn the other cheek knowing that the attacks are actually pointed at him who died?? CAN YOU IMAGINE??? Can you imagine anyone who had received eternal forgiveness for all of their sins losing sight of the Word of God which says "Vengeance is MINE says the Lord", and might actually support taking the vengeance into their own hands??

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