I recently heard a talk by Nancy Alcorn of Mercy Ministries describing the lost...
There are many sheep in Australia and towards the end of the day typically we would see one sheep with his head down eating grass and the rest of the sheep have walked away and are then taken to an enclosure. The lone sheep eating, lifts up its head, can't see all the other sheep and says to itself, "oh I'm lost".
It's the same with people who are busy doing their lives, working, learning, looking after the children and so on, that when they look up day to say oh I'm lost!
And this is where the enemy wants us - Isolated and lost!
The trouble is, when it comes to saving all coralling the lost, the enemy makes sure that there are as many obstacles and obstructions in the way. In fact, some of the arguments and religions seem so convincing that many of the lost fall at the first hurdle.
We have become accustomed to accepting anything negative said about Christianity as there are too few evangelists around to have a proper conversation with and too few people around to answer any questions we might have.
Even going to church seems like an election process in order to get you to commit to attending rather than answering some of the fundamental questions that keep people from being drawn to God.
Many TV evangelists have got an accurate grasp on the Bible and its teachings yet they themselves become the targets for attack by the enemy, which then get publicised and of course stops others hearing and understanding the word of God.
It is common nowadays to ridicule Christianity or Judaism yet every other religion is seen as acceptable. One rarely hears about other the religions killing each other, yet Christians and Jews are being killed all the time.
If we take a look at the opposing worldviews we can see why there would be so much confusion.
Worldviews
Non-western worldview – animism
- Lives controlled by a universal power and by many spirits
- Need an expert to manipulate spiritual power to your advantage
Western or modern worldview
- Divides world into natural and supernatural but only focuses on the natural
- Sees spiritual things as irrelevant in today's life
- Reality is defined only by what we can see, touch and measure.
Post modern worldview
- There is no such thing as objective truth
- Everyone has their own version of the truth
- Each person's truth is a valid as everyone else's
- If you disagree with my truth or disapprove of my actions you are rejecting me
Biblical worldview, how it really is
- Truth does exist
- God is truth
- Faith and logic are not incompatible
It is very easy to understand through the opposing worldviews why there is so much confusion when the post modern world view seems so convincing.
Even Bill Gates, who says he participates in the Catholic Church whilst Melissa Gates attends, is in agreement with Richard Dawkins (who is probably the world's best-known atheist) that humanity has a need for creation myths and that science has now filled the realm that religion once did in many areas.
It is a shame as someone as brilliant and influential as Bill Gates has not sought to understand how and why God is the creator of all things - perhaps he knows but is committed to the dark side. But even he can be saved if he repents and changes his trajectory.
That said, incomplete comments about religion creates unnecessary questions in people's minds about faith which are two distinctly different subjects.
In the fast walking, smooth talking, lip smacking break-neck world we live in, where no one feels they have the time for anything, let alone to investigate something like faith, we tend to take the easy way out and accept what someone well-known, like Bill Gates, may say which makes us feel we've been "let off the hook" and don't have to check things out ourselves.
I know it's a challenge! To visit something like Christianity and investigate if yourself. I know because I only became a Christian five years ago and I thought it was going to be a load of happy-clappy nonsense. I had people telling me that God had called me, so I thought if he has why on earth would I want to follow!
But I was compelled to pursue it, even though I was tempted to throw in the towel. I admit it was complicated but only because the people around me didn't understand it properly themselves. It was a bit like the blind leading the blind with a big smile and lots of tea and biscuits! The key element for me was to first make a commitment by saying a prayer of salvation, like the one at the bottom of this article. Don't forget, it is supernatural and what we say, not think, sets things in motion.
Then, by allowing Jesus into my life (and not just listening to one person preach at me) I took the time to unlearn the rubbish I had picked up and then slowly but surely get closer and closer to understanding why Jesus died for me and the rest of us and gradually inching towards a place where now I don't wake up fear butterflies in my stomach.
I now know why bad things happen and who is responsible. I know how God wants the very best for all of us and also know that there is a supernatural order to life that God established in the beginning and that we are all subject to it and can all access it.
I've experienced enough bad things in my life to know that I don't want to go there again. To experience genuine peace is quite something. It sounds a bit new age/hippy but hey who cares. I love the life I have and I believe it is because I understand the order of things God has put in place and where I fit in with Jesus as my Lord.
I know that God is the source and that Jesus is the channel that enables us access.
I really hope and pray you don't listen to the voice inside you telling you this is nonsense. Shut it out and pursue finding out more about the promises God has for your life but trusting him and no one else.
