Coexist?

As I was driving home last night I saw a bumper sticker that read “God is too big to fit inside one religion.” This reminded me of another bumper sticker I have seen several times that uses symbols from several different religions including the cross to spell out the word “coexist”. It all ties to the foolish ideology that you can find God through any religion.

Do not believe it my friends. The only reason people say this is because they don’t believe God is real. They think He is like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, that people are only pretending that God exists because it helps them be a better person. If that’s all God is, then there is no harm in accepting other religions because those people are also pretending, they are just pretending differently. If that’s all God is, then there is no harm in letting society decide what is right and wrong by their continually changing definitions of political correctness, because it’s just pretending anyway.

But God isn’t pretend. God is real, and He is who He is. It isn’t about whether God is too big to fit inside one religion, because God does not have to conform to any religion. He’s God, so He gets to do things His way, not our way. It is our religion that must conform to God’s way, and if it doesn’t, that religion is false.

God requires us to address Him by His own name. Calling Him some other name from some other religion that He never told us to call Him is an insult to Him. God requires us to find Him at His own address. If we look for Him at a place of worship of some other religion that He never told us to go to, we will not find Him, and it is an insult to expect Him to be there. God requires us to reach Him by His way. If we try to get to Him through the practice of some other religion that He never told us to follow, we will never reach Him, and it is an insult to think we could force our way in by another way.

Isaiah 44:6-20 -

This is what the LORD says—Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:

I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come— yes, let him foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."

All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit him nothing? He and his kind will be put to shame; craftsmen are nothing but men. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and infamy.

The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.

It is man's fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm; I see the fire." From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, "Save me; you are my god."

They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, "Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?" He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?" (NIV)


John 14:6 - Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV)

There is only one God, and there is only one way to Him. God does not “coexist” and He does not “fit inside”. He is God. He does not conform to what we want. We must conform to what He wants.


James :)

Earthquake

Are you discouraged by the direction our nation is going, especially in reflection of last Sunday’s historical act of congress? Don’t be.

Haggai 2:6 - “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.’” (NIV)

Does this by any chance sound familiar to you? Are you feeling the shaking? You need to understand that everything that can be shaken, will be shaken. That is the whole point to what God is doing today.

But you should also take courage, because that isn’t the end of the story, it is only the beginning.

Haggai 2:7-9 - “‘I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.” (NIV)

Let the earth shake if it must. Let the United States of America rock and turn in upheaval.

Hebrews 11:28-29 - Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire." (NIV)

Shaking isn’t a bad thing, it’s actually just what we need. These days we are now in were foretold by the prophet Daniel:

Daniel 2:35 - Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. (NIV)

Do you feel like the handwriting is on the wall (Daniel 5)? Do you fear our nation has become like Sodom and Gomorrah, and so is on the verge of judgement (Genesis 19)? Then I must ask you, why are you so shocked about evil men committing evil acts? Sinners sin. Why do you expect them to do different? That’s not where the problem lies.

2 Chronicles 7:14 - If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (NIV)

I’ve said it to you before. As goes the Church in America, so goes the nation. If this nation is crumbling, it is not because of the sin of its leaders, it is because of the sin of its churches. It is not the repentance of the lost that will bring healing to the land, but the repentance of the ones who are called by His name… Christians…

And God is going to continue to shake things up until He shakes away everything that can be shaken, like the “chaff on the threshing floor”. And after He is done shaking, you will be astounded by the greatness of His harvest yield.

Take courage my friends. Strengthen your grip on The Sure Foundation (Isaiah 33:5-6) and hang on, because we have a long way to go.


James :)