April 2001

[Part 123]

“Issues of the heart”

[Part Forty-one]

Hope For the Fearful Heart! [Y]

“WHO CAN I TURN TO?”

We are now living in those “Perilous times of the last days [foretold in 2 Ti 3:1] when men are lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god, and having a form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof!” [This last includes sincere but counterfeit religions such as: Mormon, Jehovah Witness, Buddhist, Muslim, and Bahai; as well as apostate Christendom! God tells true believers“From such turn away- for these will creep into houses to take captive silly women (all soulish ones) laden with sins and led astray by diverse lusts- who are ever learning but never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth!”
                It is easy to admire and be deceived by the earnest efforts of zealots who adhere to the strict traditions of their faiths. For years, my occupation as a private tutor has led me into many homes where elaborate rituals of religious worship are observed; and at first, it was a bit unsettling to my religious mind that I was led by no Anointing to “witness to” or “evangelize” these deceived ones- yet I knew and taught Kingdom revelations in a home group. I wasn’t clear if I was compromising my own commitment to Truth by just sitting quietly in their midst without “preaching” about the error of their ways! But LOVE taught me the answer as I grew in the spirit and got to know these precious ones. I learned that though God hadn’t yet called these out of darkness into His Light, He could see into their hearts how they stretched to the height and depth of their “desire to worship” [one of the three components of the human spirit- the other two being conscience and discernment]. Father was lovingly “exercising” these little ones in ways of “reverence and devotion” just as He had done with me in my years of Catholicism. That religion taught me a deep sense of reverence for the Jesus I only knew as a historical figure; yet what I knew of Him, I loved! I envied nuns who lived in convents only to serve and love Christ! But it wasn’t till I was called out of man’s religion into a vital relationship with the LIVING GOD that I discovered few Catholic priests or nuns either believe or know the OT to be the Living Word of God, rather an accumulation of (not necessarily infallible) “historical stories and poems”; but they are bound tightly to rigid church traditions!
                God has taught me over the years to separate religious people from their religions! False belief is only the misplaced faith of souls in need of spiritual expression and comfort, but for whom the Door of Truth has not yet opened! If God does not disallow this activity for such seekers, who are we to do so? It is likely these same false worshippers will one day be among Christ’s most fervent followers when He turns their captivity and draws them into His Light of Life! Till then, they turn to the only “light” (albeit a false light) before them. It is wrong to say it doesn’t matter what god a man worships as if all gods are the same God; for such is not true. THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD and HE, ALONE, SHALL BE WORSHIPPED AND GLORIFIED! But God did not create men as a long succession of individuals who each inhabits the earth as solitary beings that fall into sin, then are purged, purified, sanctified, glorified and taken home; then followed by the next individual who is processed the same, solitary way, then taken home; then another and another- till His tally of souls is fulfilled! He did create men one at a time, and each is put through a regimen of disciplines throughout his earthly life designed to impact his eventual life in Christ; but all those disciplines include some of us being made vessels of dishonor that are used to scourge and crucify others He has made to be vessels of honor! (Ro 9:21- Read also 2 Tim 2:20-21) Who would have crucified Jesus had there been no Judas Iscariot?! The testings and trials of this death-life make us seek a source of solace to turn to; but God is not offended when those He has “Shut in unbelief” (Ro 11:32) cannot yet turn to Him! He knows our frame, and He remembers we are men of dust!” (Ps 103:14) “Still the Foundation of God [the same Christ-Foundation of men; 1 Co 3:10] stands having this Seal, ‘THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS!’ Let all who name the Name of the Lord (calling themselves Christians) abstain from all wickedness!” (2 Ti 3:19) Unbelievers do not know to turn to Jesus as Savior when they are sorely tested, but believers know; therefore, they have no excuse before God! Let all who “Name the Name of the Lord” be sure that He is the ONLY ONE to whom they turn in the midst of tribulations! Not people, not money, not the world but to CHRIST, ALONE!

[TO BE CONTINUED]