Remaining
in the Faith - abibing presence of the Holy Spirit
Kum Ba Ya - Come by here by Lord
(Mat 24:5 NIV) For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the
Christ, ' and will deceive many.
(Mat 24:9 NIV) "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and
put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
(Mat 24:14 NIV) And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in
the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will
come.
A dear City Harvest friend recently said that he has abdandoned his
Christian Faith. It was not that he had turned to other religious
faith, but was influenced by a trend to worship extra-terrestrials
which denies Jesus Christ as God, but paints religions and creation
as having outer space origins. The worldwide recent interest in the
end of the world in end 2012 based on a Mayan Calendar shows their
seemingly religious pull putting fear in the hearts of many.
The attempt to class all religions as extra-terrestrials is an
indirect categorization to generalise all religion as "one". Hence,
the gods that the Mayan worshipped somehow become one with
Christianity simply because they are "supernatural", regardless of
the vast differences of beliefs and practices. Perhaps the "aliens"
were not extra-terrestrial from a far off universe but were actually
the local Principalities of the Air, the spiritual and angelic
realm. The bible talks of the fallen angels being in bed with
mankind producing giants and that great evil roam the land before it
was destroyed in the great flood.
The purposes of such conspiracy theories is to distract
Christians from their faith in God. There is a dark spiritual
influence to blame aliens. For example, it is said that creation is
by alien intelligence as there is a jump in evolution process. This
is partially true as evolution is like a warehouse full of raw
materials being transformed to a 747 jet by itself. When we deny the
God of creation, we deny Him the Glory and Honor due.
We are vulnerable as there is an emphasis on tribulation, an
anti-Christ like the Roman Emperor of old who will hunt down
Christians. Persecution did come to the early Christians (Mat 24:9)
who escaped to Asia Minor. Later, Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70
with Christians continuing to be persecuted especially after they
were outlawed in AD60 (when they had previously been protected as a
sect of the Jewish Faith). The Church was brought into the Roman
Institution through Constantine in AD313. Hence today, most of the
persecution is our own doing, with the church persecuting others as
seen in the dark ages.
The strategy of the Principalities is to be a mystery, a secret, the
hidden mentor appearing as if they do not exist. We were waiting for
persecution, yet what is often subtle is far more palatable. The
"Transformation 2009" movement now almost universally embraced by
the mega Churches is but a name given to the Dominion and Prosperity
theology of Christians staking a major claim and influence to all
sectors of the nation and wealth including the Government. The
temptation of power and wealth is too juicy for us to reject like
Jesus did in Mat 4:9,10.
We often blame the scapegoats - Jews and Gays so that the
Principalities were not suspected and it become sin to us before
God. That was why Hitler killed 6 million Jews and more than a
hundred thousand gays. For the predominately Lutheran, and Catholics
Germans, their worship of Hitler was sealed by the blood of the
innocent in their hands. Innocent blood takes away the cover of
grace as we are made to be aligned with the works of the dark ones.
When Focus on the Family blame Gays for destroying the family unit
or bringing down the nation to the slippery slope of immorality,
this becomes "sin" in the church for which we are liable for
judgement.
(Mat 16:18 NIV) And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock
I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
(Mat 16:19 NIV) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
It is said that God so love the church that He will not let the
churches fail. But the bible says otherwise, that God has done His
part in giving us the rock Jesus Christ, which upon we could stand
upon in prayer as keys to bind and overcome the gates of Hades. It
is evident that the church would be attacked spiritually which can
only be overcome when our focus is on Christ, standing fast in
prayer on the authority we have in Christ. For many the battle is
over by default for we don't even velieve that there is "Hades", the
gates of Hell trying to engulf the church, trying to make us become
one with it.
Today, individually we are battered and bruised spiritually
sometimes even without knowing it. Many in the GLBT community is so
bashed up by the Church, that we have forgotten Jesus Christ. Today,
God has given us the key of redemption, it is faith in Christ - the
ummovable rock of ages, faith in the abiding presence of love and
fellowship by the Holy Spirit of God.
Our faith is often on an intellectual idea, or alternatively law
based adherance to religious laws. But when trouble comes, when
dissapoinments in life and deep struggles come, they don't stand
much above the flooding waters of our struggles. We are easily
swayed by whatever that comes along, even the mob persecution of
gays to blame for all of our sins because we knew we could not keep
God's laws.
We need the Lord to "Kum by Yah", to "Come by Here". Our Faith
must go much beyond an intellect or a religious sacraments/law based
adherance. For the Christians gays to survive and not leave the
church in droves which they have hitherto, it has to be a deep
spiritual abide and fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit.
Our lives are short. Once, we reach 40, our last tommorow is
not to far away. We may lament and cry in our hearts of unfilled
dreams of prosperity that the churches' prosperity theology has
taught us. Little did we know, we have already made it in life, when
we believed by faith that Christ Jesus is our Lord and Saviour
through God's Grace and mercy. We have made it, for our future abode
is in heaven, and our current abode is in fellowship and communion
with that precious Holy Spirit whatever our circumstances may be,
even if we were gay. There is a sweet contenment, a walk of
simplicity and a huddling beside the camp fire praising God.
Kum Ba Yah Lord, Come by Here Lord, we seek Your Face, this day.