What the World Needs Now
By Barbara Henderson
I thought I would start this article with the ending. What the world needs now is Christians who:
• believe in the Absolute Truth revealed to us in the Bible,
• who understand that it was established by the Absolute Authority of creation, and
• who live their lives accordingly. .
An absolute truth is an unalterable fact.
Absolute truth is not relative to culture, time, personal feelings or experiences, or political and social pressure.
An absolute truth must be established by an absolute authority.
The downward spiral of society begins when mankind steps off the foundation of Absolute Truth and into the shifting sand of doing what seems right in their own eyes. This is called Relativism.
Relativism – The doctrine that no ideas or beliefs are universally true, but that all are, instead, ‘relative’ – that is, their validity depends on the circumstances in which they are applied. (dictionary.com) Relativism progresses to:
Tolerance – freedom from bigotry. (dictionary.com)
Tolerance progresses to:
Acceptance – favorable reception; approval. (dictionary.com)
Relativism creates a cesspool of self righteousness. There are no standards by which to live. The individual must observe the environment, assess the situation, and then reason out the right thing to do. The things that society considers ‘right’ today, may be wrong tomorrow. Nothing is permanent. Everything is subject to continual change. There is no anchor to which the weary can cling.
Honestly, if the Absolute Authority is rejected, then there is no one or anything that has authority to declare anything right or wrong.
Today, society clings to some of the old values that are written down for us in the Bible. It is still considered wrong to murder someone unless they are unborn, terminally ill, elderly, or feeble. Most people don’t steal unless they can do it legally. Lies are only acceptable if they are told to protect someone, or cause something good to happen at a later date. But you have to wonder why society bothers. Without the Absolute Authority to set the rules, rules really have no basis.
Relativism has many devout followers. New Agers, Wiccans, Eastern Mystics, and Collectivists (Communists, Socialists, Fascists, Nazi’s, etc.) are all Relativists. They decide what to do based on current circumstances.
The only thing that Relativists do consistently is to tolerate others. For some, such as the Collectivists, tolerance is merely temporary. I found it very interesting that the dictionary defines ‘tolerance’ as ‘an absence of bigotry’. I thought ‘tolerance’ was just putting up with something. I didn’t know it had anything to do with bigotry.
Tolerance is soon morphed into acceptance. Here again, the dictionary gave me a surprise. I thought acceptance was saying, ‘OK, this is the way things are. I am just going to have to live with it.’ Instead the dictionary says acceptance means ‘a favorable reaction – approval’.
This chain reaction is easily seen in the homosexual movement.
Those who want homosexual behavior to be acceptable must first step off the foundation of Absolute Truth. The Bible is clear that this lifestyle is not acceptable to God. They say, ‘Well, God couldn’t possibly have meant that. He must have made a mistake. Or, maybe someone made a mistake in translation some time or other.’
From this point they move in the Relativist arena. If homosexual behavior is incorrectly stated as sin in the Bible, then everything else in the Bible might be in error also. Everything must be decided on the basis of circumstances at the time.
Social and political pressure are applied to society as a whole in order to assure that personal decisions are tolerated. Homosexual behavior must be tolerated, or you are a bigot! When Christians say, homosexuality is not acceptable to God, they are called narrow minded bigots. Of course, the true Christian knows that the rules were made by God. If society has a problem, they need to take the problem to the ‘Rule Maker’. No earthly power has authority to change the rules set by God.
Then from tolerance of homosexuality, society pushes for it to be ‘accepted’. According to the dictionary, that means society is supposed to have a ‘favorable reaction’ and ‘give approval’ of the movement.
Sadly, we are living in a time like in the book of Judges when, ‘there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.’ (Judges 17:26)
As wicked as society is as a whole, it is not surprising. Many people don’t profess any form of Christianity. We cannot expect them to live in obedience to the commandments and the other instructions in the Bible. Instead of condemning the lost, Christians need to pray for them. The lost of the world need Christians to tell them about the Absolute Truth, the Absolute Authority, and the Perfect Way of salvation. Christians should also be free to make it clear that certain behavior is unacceptable.
The church today has set itself to be the watchman of society, focusing on the wrong doing of the world. In so doing, they have taken their focus off what is going wrong in the church itself.
Many churches are all too willing to step off the foundation of Absolute Truth laid by Jesus Christ ‘just a little bit’ if they see it is a means to accomplish a particular goal.
Most churches play the ‘numbers game’. They will do almost anything in order to get more people through the church doors. In an attempt to make the church ‘relevant’ to people today, radical changes are often made within the church. Music unfit for human ears is often played in churches. Of course the lyrics are changed to something that sort of sounds a little bit Christian. Preachers are careful not to offend the congregation so they accept the music.
Church leaders believe the circumstances make a little compromise acceptable. Of course it never stays at just a little compromise. Soon the church is nothing more than a social club. The church building may be filled to capacity at every service and activity, but the congregation might as well be going to a local country club or even a night club. (‘Night Club’ is a fancy word for ‘honeky-tonk’, or ‘beer joint’. They are all bad places.)
Many churches also play the money game. Church leaders will do what they deem necessary to bring in enough money to live very lavish lives. This is sometimes called the Word/Faith movement. They attract members by teaching that the Lord wants everyone to be healthy and wealthy. They teach that all you have to do is have faith. You name what you want, and then claim it. They claim they have proof that God is with them because of the numbers in their congregations. Some even teach that people are ‘little gods’. Some in these congregations may know better, but they will not speak out because they consider the circumstances. To speak out would be divisive and maybe even cause a church split. That might be ‘quenching the spirit’.
The truth is that where the scripture is compromised, the Spirit is already quenched.
Other churches set the material needs of people above the spiritual needs. They preach a social gospel, convincing members that ‘doing good’ for the poor and oppressed does more good than preaching salvation by grace. They believe that circumstances dictate such a paradigm shift in how the church operates. After all, the poor and sick of the world are helpless. The material preachers ask themselves, ‘Why not provide the poor with salvation right now – save them from their poverty. That ought to work out just fine.’
A social gospel church will affiliate themselves with associations not connected to the church. This is done in consideration of the current circumstances. Why shouldn’t’ a church work with Planned Parenthood or the World Health Organization if good can be done that way? A preacher might even say, ‘This problem (like aids in Africa) is just too big for the church!’ Such thoughts are of the inadequacy of the church to help with the problems of the world are CORRECT - IF the church has already compromised its principles and blended with worldly ideologies.
Churches whose main goal is numbers, or health and wealth, or social transformation will do whatever circumstances dictate in order to achieve their goals. Church members are expected to tolerate and accept whatever methods church leadership employs. They will also choose to ignore any part of the scripture that they consider divisive. This often means leaving out Bible prophecy. One denomination virtually leaves out the entire Old Testament.
There is also a disturbing trend toward environmentalism is the church. It has somehow become necessary to save the planet instead of saving souls.
Churches should not wander into the heathen theology of running a church based on circumstances. The church cannot reach the lost of the world when it is floundering from the inside.
Jude 1:3 says, ‘Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Our faith is worth fighting for. What the world needs now is Christians standing firmly on the solid rock of Absolute Truth established by the Absolute Authority who are willing to fight.
The song for this article is ‘I Know Whom I Have Believed’. http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/k/ikwihb.htm (lyrics at end of article – this is a great song)
I chose this song because I personally know whom I have believed. I would like others to have an opportunity to believe on Jesus Christ as well. Christians standing on the Absolute Truth of Jesus Christ cannot silence the false teachers, but they can expose their errors. Christians can earnestly contend for the faith.
Thank you for reading my article. God Bless you.
Barbara Henderson
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.
Refrain
But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart.
Refrain
I know not how the Spirit moves,
Convincing us of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him.
Refrain
I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.
Refrain
I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.
Refrain
