Are We Preparing To Meet God (Part #1)?

Earl Gillespie

Are We Preparing To Meet God?

This will be a six part series.  At first I will present the rudiments of loosely stated and random thoughts, then in part five and six I will try to combine all of these loose thoughts into a solid dissertation that will be enlightening and thought provoking.   Do we really believe in God?"

The weather, the world, the church, the home is groaning and is in a state of upheaval.  The values of society are crumbling and in our enlighten and indoctrinated state we have laid the blame at the feet of God.  "God knows what he is doing", has allowed the Devil and humanity to shift the blame for a world heading for judgment and destruction.  

Paul once spoke of an experience that he had and it was unclear as to whether he was in the body or not.  This experience would leave me wondering the same thing.  Sitting in the corner of the dimly lit and antiseptically cool Hospital room my mind was adrift in a sea of confusion.  Reflecting on the things I had been taught when I was a child only magnify my bewilderment.  I was now dealing with a reality that few are prepared for.  The religious community whose mandate should have been preparing us for this moment seems to have abandoned their mission and entered into competition with the institutes of higher learning.   Now, those who cannot afford to go to college or get a job can go to church to learn how to walk in God’s favor and be prosperous.   A quick scan of the social media pages and we am inundated with the things God is doing.  God is paying peoples' bills, and making people rich.  In order for our God to exist he must be busy behind the scene working things out for us, yet people are getting sick and dying.   but at church he is delivering people and prayer is keeping people alive.  Still, it seems that on this day,  in this Hospital room, no matter how much I utter ‘words’ God was silent.

I am not questioning the ultimate power of God, this is not an issue.  It is how we use the knowledge of God’s infinite power.  There is a key to understanding God’s power in the book of Geneses that is often overlooked.   What is man’s purpose and why did God create man?   There is the conclusion of the matter in the book of Revelation.  What transpires in between should give us an insight of how God interacted with his creation down through the ages and dispensations.  According to the modern day interpretation of the scripture, God created man for the sole purpose of having someone to give stuff to, therefore based upon this concept, Christians should be rich and sinners should be poor.  

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Arguments can be made to justify every condition of the human experience.  There are arguments made to justify a war veteran struggling to exist from day to day, while the actor who played his part in a movie earned over twenty-five million dollars.  Millions of people will pack stadiums across the land, regardless of weather conditions.  For what purpose?  To be entertained by their favorite team. Entertainment is the driving force of humanity.   What makes one team the favorite? 

Speak a word against a preacher that demands ten percent of an old lady's social security check and you will be placed on a fast track to Hell.  Malachi 3:8, is defended, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."  Yet, Ecclesiastes 9:8  Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. This can be simply explained away.  And take no thought of invoking the laws of Leviticus 20:13  If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

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Christianity has transformed the spiritual aspects of God into sellable attributes that are attainable through a simple act of prayer and a financial contribution.   The late Rev. Ike set the stage for the selling of the God of our salvation when he said, “The pie in the sky bye and bye conceit of Christianity was not a sellable attribute”, he proceeded to create the products necessary for selling the blessing of God.   Glen Turner’s approach to selling the attributes of hope by those with special skills, (Google It) taught many how to capitalize on the power of the poor, the suffering and those who are in search of hope.  Many lost their homes and their life saving reaching for that brass ring of hope.  Yet there are many who are living off the resources of others will testify of the blessing received

The gospel of the Kingdom of God has become disputed, diluted and perverted.  The believability of our God is suffering and too many of our younger generation choose the way of guns, drugs, and prison life.  Many of us choose to suffer in abject silence, yet the words that many speak today will somehow affect the spirituality of those who are suffering in silence from diabetes, cancer, the loss of a family member, confined to wheelchairs or acts of humanity.  Remember, God did not pollute the food supply but in Revelation he has a way to clean this mess up.   When I was young I rejoiced in messages of Good health, prosperity and increase, these are the things that Jesus said profited a man nothing, in the spiritual realm. 

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The indoctrinated concept of, "if the Bible said it, then it's true", is not the best defense of the Holy scripture.  The truth of this statement is relevant to the person making the statement.  The Devil used this technique to confuse Eve and he even tried it on Jesus.

Like Mitt Romney who’s ‘off the record’ forty seven percent  speech was taken out of context and used to trivialize the plight of forty seven percent of the American people, we trivialize the spirituality of God when we speak of the ninety and nine.

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If the greatest exhibition of our faith is thanking God for waking us up this morning.   We trivialize our God by thanking him for the things he do for all and not focusing on the things he done for those who believed.   Jesus said in Matthew 5:45 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.  If our desire is for the spirit of God to abide in us, it seems as if our prayer should be for wisdom and knowledge and the fruit of the spirit to manifest itself.  Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.  Luke 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. Galatians 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith. 

Many modern day ministers preach messages of favor, increase and prosper.  A picture is painted of Christians smiling and dancing in the Sunshine as they enjoy heaven here on earth.  Buzzword and cliques are the heart of a great message.  

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The ominous and persistence sound of the life support equipment fills the room and brought me to a heighten state of reality.  The cancer ridden, emaciated and highly sedated form lying on the bed was slipping in and out of consciousness, this added to the eerie and the surreal feeling that something unseen was taking place in this hospital room.  Where is that person who can minister to this condition?   That minister that said God wants us to live a long and prosperous life, is he or she standing by to condemn this struggling soul?

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Part 2 of 6