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Christians Need To Understand Today's World

by Dr. Henderson Ward  
8/18/2016 / Christian Living

There was a time when things were simple and clear, and you knew where you stood, and the issues at stake, because people were not afraid to be frank and tell it as it is. People then, as always, were unreliable, two-faced, bigoted and generally riddled with idosyncracies, but they were mostly inclined to call a spade a spade.

Not so today. People talk in riddles, delight in manufacturing half-truths, feel comfortable in peddling myths and generally spreading confusion in order to hide their true intentions.

This is very true in politics and has become the norm, for politics has become a game of dishonesty, diatribe, lies, popularity seeking, and evasions; to the extent that you do not really know anything firmly about the politicians, and yet you know so much about them. This allows the mainstream media to paint the politicians in any colour it wishes depending on its agenda.

All of this is part of today's world where politicians, and their agenda, are packaged and repackaged ad nauseam, where sometimes the opposite is peddled in different parts of the country, so that people are hoodwinked into voting for them.

Let us be honest, politics have scarred the nation, along with unethical practices which seem to be habitual to big business and the professions, causing people generally to be not just skeptical but cynical and derisive. When people do not believe anything, from anybody, then essential truths, truths that are indispensable to lifting people up, and making them truly better, ensuring a more civilised, humane, habitable world, are lost or marginalized.

Anarchists, notwithstanding, people are ill at ease with this duplicitous, fractured, ambivalent, topsy-turvy world and are cognisant of the harm it is causing to society. But it is what it is.

A few examples should suffice.

1. A politician running for the highest office says on a public platform that the President of the United States is the founder of the Islamic State, a terrorist organisation. This extremely serious charge that was meant to blacken the character of the president did not take off, and was widely panned by the public. Next day the politician came back to the public and remarked in words to the effect "...what's the bid deal, I was just kidding". This same politician is known to have called Obama a Muslim, and asserted over and over that Obama was born in Kenya. Both are proven untruths.

2. Not long ago, one of the most popular brands of bottled water (made in France) was caught selling ordinary pipe water in their bottled water. Bottled water is suppose to have reduce amounts of copper, lead, and other metal contaminants as compared to pipe water, and of course pipe water is way cheaper.

3. The tobacco industry had known for decades that smoking cigarettes was dangerous, and caused cancer, yet they produced scientific reports from bona fide scientists that smoking cigarettes was okay. Untold millions have died from the effects of cigarette smoking, and millions more are seriously incapacitated.

4. The medical profession has been telling us for decades that the human appendix was a useless organ and has no function in humans. In any internal surgery the surgeon used to remove the appendix because it was useless and could later cause appendicitis. It was Charles Darwin that suggested that the appendix was perhaps used to digest leaves as primates. Now we know the truth, i.e, that at least one of the functions of the appendix is specifically to harbour intestinal bacteria so that they can quickly repopulate the intestine after an intestine-clearing disease like dysentery.

These few examples are just some of the many that cause people to be skeptical/cynical generally. I could have listed the contradictory foolishness scientist talk in their arguments for and against butter/margarine, eating/ not eating eggs, drinking/not drinking wine and such like. It seems that the scientific bodies are mere poodles of their paymasters, and would say, and do, anything however unconscionable.

But it is in the area of the spiritual, as regards Christianity specifically, that all right thinking believers should be concerned. A whole new generation of people, the so-called millennial generation, is in the midst of a world-wide assault on the principles and practice of true Christianity. This assault is coming from the secular segment of society, but it is finding support from religious elements in the church.

This should prompt us to be doubly watchful.

Truth has nothing to do with popularity. Christianity has never been a popular religion and history has shown this to be the case. Churches should never compete with the world by diluting the gospel, or compromising, to gain popularity.

In its entire history, Christianity has always been a minority religion. Even when it got its greatest boost, in 313 AD, when Emperors Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, proclaiming religious toleration in the Roman Empire, Christianity grew but still continued as a minority religion.

Over the centuries Christianity has grown, and became the religion of choice for many nations, and people, and yet it was never the religion of the majority of the world. Unbelievers, religious sects, paganism and the likes have always been in the majority; and it is not hard to see why.

And besides, many of those who claimed to be of the Christian faith believed only in the notion of Christianity, they had no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, were never baptised, and never experienced the new birth; they were Christians only in the nominal sense.

Christianity was never popular, and never will be the religion of the majority, because it calls for sacrifice, discipline, selflessness, humility and total commitment to Almighty God; and few people are prepared to undertake such obligations and restraint.

Jesus Christ reminded us of this when he said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

It is necessary, therefore, for believers to appreciate and be prepared for the world to pour continuous scorn and derision on them and their beliefs, and be strong in their faith, and remain true in their commitment regardless of societal bombardment.

True strength is sticking to what God informs us. All through the Bible, believers are warned, nay encouraged, to be strong in their commitment, in their faith and be loyal to God. This is not something that requires brute strength, or physical dominance, but a profound determination based on ones committed will, yea, a mind fixed on God.

The young Daniel, as in all likelihood he was a teenager, decided he would rather die, be thrown into the burning fiery furnace, as recorded in Daniel 3:18, than betray God and bow down and worship the golden image. That was true strength.

When you believe God, take him at his word and stick to that, like Paul did during the storm (Acts 27:25), the world becomes furious and want your head. Be that as it may, we will neither deny the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, nor turn away from the wonderful book God has given us the Holy Bible.

Peter set the example for us all as believers to follow when, inspite of the threats, and beatings, and imprisonment, he said, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20) Great strength like this is a vital requirement for all believers today.

Throwing evil, darkness, terror and all kinds of threats at believers will not deter us from doing the will of God, and shining as lights to those around us.

Believers aren't easily moved from the faith, even though at times the going is tough. In the meantime, we agonise and grieve over the waywardness of this present generation, for God's hand is not shortened that it cannot save (Isaiah 59:1). The more abuse we suffer, the more we see the need for God's intervention, and the more we pray for God to save them.

Christians need to understand today's world, and be prepared to combat its evils, and stand up for truth and right whatever the costs. This is tough to do, and even more so, as some who claim to be enlightened are themselves perpetrators of the very evils that afflict society.

In spite of all this, you can be assured, that those who are true to God, and faithful to His cause, will triumph. The Bible reminds us of this, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." (2 Timothy 2:19)

Enough said.

Books by this author you may wish to read.

THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW (e-book)
Volume 1 Five tough facts to be faced
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YX5NSI

STAND UP TO THE DEVIL (e-book)
Volume 1 You must first identify him
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BQVLSS

BASTARD: A STORY OF REDEMPTION(e-book fiction)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OF3SD6

ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (Hard copy)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002X78D16

ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (e-book)
http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60799-630-9

Dr. Henderson Ward received his Doctor of Divinity in theology, with distinction, from Masters International School of Divinity, USA, where he is currently a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Ward's career involved pastoring, evangelism, and teaching. Copyright 2017

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