2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
A number of Paul's letters to the early Christians dealt with the problem of rationalization or efforts to combine paganism with Christianity. People tend to be pragmatic, to try to fit into the existing culture in an effort to placate existing authorities or others who oppose their spiritual beliefs. Paul makes the point in 1 COR 10: 19-21 that this mixing of belief systems is unacceptable to God. "Do I imply, then, that an idol or the food offered to it really amounts to anything? No! What I am saying is that what is sacrificed on pagan altars is offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink from the Lord's cup and also from the cup of demons; you cannot eat at the Lord's table and also at the table of demons." This makes a powerful point with implications that impact our lives today. While we are not trying to mix the same style of paganism with Christianity, we see in today's society a disturbing emphasis on materialism and growth in the number of New Age congregations. These have the trappings of a Christian church which cover over the idolatry of modern paganism, making these congregations appealing to young people. God's word is not to be mixed with other belief systems. Christ made this clear when He spoke in MT 6: 24. "No one can be a slave of two masters; he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
This problem of attempts at rationalization is nothing new. The stories about the kings of the northern territory of Israel which had separated itself against God's will from the southern territory of Judah are replete with wickedness that came from trying to mix Baal worship with Judaism. In fact, Israel had 19 kings, all of whom were very evil. It was this dreadful state of the practice of faith that led God to decide in the first place to allow Israel and Judah's enemies, the Assyrians and the Babylonians, to take her captive [1 K 12: 25-30; 2 K 17: 5-6; IS 10: 5-6,11, & 20-21; 2 K 24: 10 & 25; 2 K 25: 1 & 8; JER 29: 10]. Even after the Jewish priests finally returned from Babylonian captivity, they had totally forgotten how to lead worship of the true faith [MAL 1: 6-2: 9]. Zechariah was chosen by God to retrain them in true worship and reform their practices. The fact of the matter is that evil has been on the scene since the original sin of Adam and Eve. It took organized form for the first time in GN 11, which is the story of the Tower of Babylon. It has had different names and different trappings throughout mankind's history, names like gnosticism, occult, witchcraft, sorcery, humanism, paganism, and new age. One way or another, the bottom line is that it is man-centered, Satan-led worship as opposed to God-led, God-centered worship. It always involves subordinating God's agenda to human ones.
Efforts to rationalize sin come in many contexts and many forms. The devil loves these efforts. James speaks of it with regard to the tongue. JAS 3: 10, "Words of thanksgiving and curses cannot come from the same mouth. My brothers, this should not happen!" These efforts being made are at the heart of spiritual warfare. The bottom line is that we must be on one side or the other, and I choose God's side! The only way we can know what is true worship and what is rationalization is to be in God's word daily. That is how the Holy Spirit gives us the discernment we need to see the difference. It is also the best way to be reminded of the full armor that God gives us to battle against these evil efforts on the adversary's part.
While it might not be pleasant reading, I feel it's important for us to see a list of pagan practices with their definitions from the dictionary. That is why I will include these in tomorrow's message. When we know what we are dealing with, we will be sufficiently equipped to combat it no matter how appealing the package it's wrapped in might be. In the meanwhile, we need to heed God's words through Paul in RO 6: 15-26, "What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under God's grace? By no means! Surely you know that when you surrender yourselves as slaves to obey someone, you are in fact the slaves of the master you obey-either of sin, which results in death, or of obedience, which results in being put right with God." Take comfort in knowing what RO 5: 9-11, "By His [Christ's] death we are now put right with God; how much more, then, will we be saved by Him from God's anger! We were God's enemies, but He made us His friends through the death of His Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life! But that is not all; we rejoice because of what God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has now made us God's friends."
PRAYER: O Lord, rationalization is often at the heart of the conflict between the flesh and the spirit. You direct us to understand that while this conflict is always a part of the sanctification process by which You perfect us, we must see it for what it is. You have given us the Scriptures, prayer, our congregations, and our circumstances to allow us to learn that obedience to You and trust in You is the only way to bring us to eternal life. Christ's death on the cross sealed the Covenant of Grace and opened the way for salvation. Out of the love and generosity of Your heart, You directed the Holy Spirit to dwell within believers and to teach us what we need to know to travel that narrow, rocky path through a narrow gate that we must to find eternal life. We dedicate ourselves today to learning what is of You and what is of the adversary, so that we can better do battle with him and have victory in Christ. The problems we face have been with mankind since the original sin was committed. Satan's arrows have taken different forms and have been given different names through our history, but they have always been grounded in evil. You alone through the death of Your Son give us escape from evil. We come to Your holy altar in humility, to confess our sins, especially sins of rationalization. We open our hearts and spiritual vessels to You and ask You to fill them with the Holy Spirit's guidance, love, and direction. We offer You our worship, adoration, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and utmost thanksgiving. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen
As promised above, tomorrow I am directed to write about pagan practices and the Biblical warnings against them tomorrow. Our loving Abba is supplying us with major combat intelligence. He does this because of His deep love and compassion for us. He knows we must battle against the forces of evil around us and arms us with tools to be successful in that endeavor. We must be ever alert and watchful, using the discernment He gives us in so many ways. If we will listen to Him, He will shower us with comfort, encouragement, courage, self-control, and confidence. These are the actions of a Deity Who adores His children. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn