Jesus @ MindSay

Richard T. Ritenbaugh said that perhaps the most famous line from the quill of American patriot Thomas Paine is the sentence that opened his pro-revolution pamphlet, The American Crisis, No. 1: "These are the times that try men's souls." We are not living in the same kind of revolutionary period, despite the rebellious rumblings coming from Americans who vehemently disagree with the radical transformation of America envisioned by the Obama administration. Yet, we do live in soul-trying times—in fact, these days rank high on the list of periods in which men's souls, if you will, are at their greatest spiritual risk.

As Herbert Armstrong often said, this is a time of great religious confusion, and it has only become worse since his death in 1986.

There are literally thousands of different Christian churches and hundreds of denominations. Beyond that, the religious seeker must contend with the crusading fervor of Islam, the enduring presence of Judaism, the growing influence of Buddhism and other Eastern belief systems, and the persistent appeal of New Age and occult "spiritualities." There is also a rather militant, activist advocacy of atheism to contend with, along with its secular partners, the isms of relativism, multiculturalism, feminism, socialism, and the like, which are simply intellectual and/or political religions—idolatries of the ungodly.

Where is a person who is truly seeking God to turn?

Jesus Christ tells His disciples in Matthew 16 ". . . on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades where the dead are, the grave shall not prevail against it." This is both a prophecy and a promise, and it is based on the authority, power and faithfulness of God. In this first mention of the Christian church in the Bible, Jesus informs us of its source and foundation: Himself. He is the Rock on which the church rests, and the whole structure built atop it is also His. That is why nothing, not even death, can hope to defeat or destroy it. The church will continue until it has accomplished its purpose—which means that the true church of Jesus Christ is still in existence on the earth, and it can be found.

Of course, one cannot simply decide on one's own to seek it and find it. Many think they can, but they have deluded themselves on this matter. Jesus says very clearly in John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." No one! Currently, He is working through a small body of people called "the elect," who are firstfruits of His Kingdom as mentioned in Revelation 14:1, 4-5 and James 1:8.

Students of the Bible know that "many are called and few are chosen" Matthew 20:16, 22:14. As the Parable of the Sower and the Seed Matthew 13:1-9 depicts, God casts the gospel far and wide, but only those on "good ground" produce results. These are the chosen, the elect, the little flock (Luke 12:32) of true disciples of Christ. These few are the church or ekklesia ("assembly," "those called out") of God.

The church of God then, is not necessarily found in one human organization or denomination; instead, the church is a spiritual organism composed of individual true Christians, wherever they may be.

So it was in the first century, when the twelve apostles and Paul scattered over the face of the earth to spread the gospel, raising up congregations everywhere. Whether under Peter or Paul or John or another apostle, the truly converted members were all united in the spiritual body of Christ despite having little or no contact with each other and working within different organizations. Revelation 2-3 more than suggests that the end-time church members will be similarly scattered among at least seven "churches." Whether these are real church organizations or spiritual designations in the mind of God, we cannot say for certain. Nevertheless, to consider only one physical church organization to be the only true church ignores biblical reality.

Even so, there are larger church organizations in which true disciples of Christ congregate. In Romans 8:14, Paul gives us the most important clue concerning how to find the true church: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons ( and daughters) of God." True Christians are those who show by their words and behaviors that God is directing them. God, through the prophet Isaiah, speaks of His people, "'You are My witnesses,' says the LORD, ‘and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He'" Isaiah 43:10.

This puts a great deal of pressure on church members to represent Him properly before the world.

Perhaps the simplest test to find members of the body of Christ is one spoken by Jesus just before His crucifixion: "If you love Me, keep My commandments" John 14:15. In other words, Christ's true disciples will be keeping God's commandments—all of them. They will not pick and choose which ones they will keep; they will in faith follow all of them to the best of their abilities.

Obviously, a search for the true church of God will not be an easy one—like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack. It takes a great deal of study on the part of the seeker to know what God's true disciples believe and teach, and it is likely such a person will go through many worldly churches before He finds one of God's churches. However, if God is indeed drawing the individual to Christ, He will put him on the path to make contact with the true church.

I believe there are a few true Christians who have been "called out" right here on Mindsay. One or two of the remnant exist right here.

They have been filled with God's truth. They do not desire to argue or cause division, they love you, and sharing how they received that love and new life is all that concerns them. Their desire is that you come to know the one true God but at least that you see and hear enough to decide if you believe or not.

If God has called a few of the "elect" to Mindsay, then you are important to Him, more than you can ever know in this lifetime.

Just listen, consider carefully, see if God is not drawing you to Christ and a new life for you.

Look at it this way: of all the things you might ever study or reflect on, nothing could possibly be greater than God. So your view of Him automatically has more far-reaching ramifications than anything else in your belief system. What you think of God will automatically color how you think about everything else—especially how you prioritize values; how you determine right and wrong; and what you think of your own place in the universe. That in turn will surely determine how you act.

In my travels as of late I have seen, heard, read and experienced the new tolerence in our world.

In the book "The Intolerance of Tolerance," by D.A. Carson, he writes, "Any viewpoint must be accepted - unless it rejects other viewpoints." In other words poorly defined, tolerance drifts ironically toward true intolerance.

Carson examines how the definition of tolerance has changed. It now has less to do with recognizing the right of another to disagree with us, and more to do with not saying that others are wrong. So the word 'tolerance' has almost become an absolute good, and 'intolerance' an absolute bad. Tolerance and intolerance have become merely rhetorical terms of approval and disapproval.

This new tolerence has changed the religious face of America in case anyone hasn't noticed.

Newsweek reported that America is not a Christian nation any longer.

We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth.

The new tolerence I have found is directionless, dangerous, and potentially eternally fatal. A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal in our world today.

But can we all be right? Is there one truth, one God, one purpose for each of our lives? You get a lifetime to figure it out or you gete a lifetime to just live, and die, and take whatever greets you at the end of it all.

The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."

Americans are no longer buying it. And what I have discovered while I have been away from Mindsay is, they aren't buying much of anything. Is that sad or a good thing?

According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life"—including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans call themselves "spiritual, not religious." 

Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, says. "It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that's great, too."

Decisions, decisions....

Chaps