World Craziness

We live in a world of increasing chaos. I don't think anyone would disagree with this statement after some of the events that have happened in the country this week. M and I have had some amazing conversations just trying to sort out the messes of the world in our minds the last few nights. Here we are, raising a beautiful little child, dreaming of having more some day, while also acknowledging that the world situation is not going to get any better and that it's becoming a darker and darker place to live.



Before little E existed, we prayed for him. We asked God to give us a child who would be a passionate man after God's heart, who would follow hard after Him and be a light to the ever-darkening world. That's why I'm actually filled with excitement rather than fear when I think about E's future. The only hope for people is Jesus Christ, plain and simple. We desire so deeply to raise a family that is committed to sharing the Good News of Christ's love, forgiveness and salvation with those around them! I don't think I've ever articulated exactly what I believe on this page. I've alluded to it, but these are days of uncertainty and political correctness and so much other garbage that now is not the time to mince words. I'm going to throw it out there into the realm of cyberspace, and if you're not interested in this or my thoughts on different religions, you can stop reading now. :)



I want to address Islam. There is a lie circulating that Islam is a peaceful religion, and that Muslims are peace-loving people. Let me say this carefully: Jesus Christ died for everybody. He died for me, He died for you, He died for Muslims. God does not want anyone to miss out on the magnficent gift of eternal life with Him that He offers to us through Jesus' death and resurrection, but the hard truth is that people are missing out on it. Everyone will have eternal life, in a sense, since our souls are immortal, but the real life is with God in Heaven, and eternal life apart from Him is more like eternal death - separation from God, by choice. God loves people too much to force them to spend eternity with Him when during their life on earth, they wanted nothing to do with Him.



Despite what the media and well-meaning intellectuals may try to tell you in the name of tolerance, Allah is not the God of Christianity. He is worlds apart from the God of the Bible, who is the one true and living God - he is a false god, and at his very best, he is a fraction of my God. If you want to know the heart of a religion, you look at its central figure. I am proud to say that Jesus Christ is the central figure of my faith, which I can hardly call a religion because it doesn't feel like a religion - it feels like a relationship. Muhammad was cruel, militant, murderous, and eager to use violence to spread the message that he said he received from Allah. If you examine the history of Islam and their leader, it makes perfect sense that there is a rising surge of Islam-inspired opposition to the United States, which is (supposedly) a bastion for the freedom that radical Muslims outwardly and vehemently despise. Am I saying that all Muslims are evil and want to kill us? Well, they're no more evil than I am - God's Word says that all have sinned and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23), so we all have evil in our hearts because of our sinful nature. Muslims, however, outwardly revere and follow a man who unabashedly acted on that evil by hating and killing. No doubt most Muslims would not tell me to my face that they wanted to kill me, and they probably don't really want to kill me; but I wonder if they know the real Muhammad of history or just the one that is taught in their mosques. He would most certainly want to kill me. Look up the stuff he did; it's pretty crazy.



In the heart of every person, there is a desire for freedom, but it is so unattainable in the Islam faith that they have no choice but to hate those who have it. Where Christ is, there is freedom! I find it baffling that a Muslim can even bring himself to serve in the United States military since everything we stand for is contrary to the teachings of Muhammad. Let's be honest, the fact that the Ford Hood shooter not only perpetrated an act of violence against our own military servicemembers from within but also supposedly did so in the name of Allah has caused, for many, a reignition of anti-Muslim anger that first reared its head in 2001. Past my superficial anger though, I am heartbroken for the Muslim people. What I pray for the people entrenched in Islam is that Jesus Christ would invade their hearts. They so desperately need Jesus. I so desperately want to share Jesus with them. They "believe in Jesus" to the extent that he existed - but really, who can deny that, since the Bible is the single most historically verifiable document of all time? The people, places, and events of the Bible are consistently supported and verified by the findings of archaeology, history and science. No other religious work comes close, and I do not and will not espouse any other writing as infallible and worthy of the kind of study and application as the Bible is. Even Satan "believes in Jesus," and shudders. Believing that Jesus existed doesn't do anything. Believing that He is God incarnate, that He lived a sinless life, that He died a criminal's death and bore God's anger against us for every sin we've ever committed, and that He defeated death through His resurrection and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God - believing this Gospel and taking hold of it personally to live a redeemed life to glorify God - that is the only way to Heaven. Heaven is real, and Hell is real, and everyone will be in one or the other. That is probably the most inflammatory thing to say to someone today, that Hell exists. It seems the concept of ultimate justice isn't very popular in our morally relativistic culture, yet people are creatures that crave justice, creatures that crave God in our deepest being. He promises in His Word that "you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13), and He knows all of our hearts because He made us. Merciful, kind and compassionate as He is, He is also loving enough to execute final justice, and He will judge everybody according to what they did with what they knew.



Christians need to wise up and start spreading the Good News of freedom like never before. Satan has always hated freedom, but he's got a pretty impressive hold on this world, and plenty of people are fighting on his side for fear and enslavement. People are in slavery to all sorts of things - to their religion, to their government, to the lie that they have to work their way to Heaven. That's why Christianity is truly a message of GOOD NEWS: you don't have to DO anything! That's right, you don't have to get baptized, take communion, recite a prayer, or memorize verses, and you certainly can't be perfect, although you can try. Sure, Christians may be moved to such acts out of gratefulness to God and a desire to make their faith public, but a person who confesses his sinfulness and accepts forgiveness through Jesus at the moment of his death will be in Heaven right beside the person who faithfully served the Lord his entire life. There may be varying levels of reward in Heaven (I haven't been, and neither have you, so any statements about Heaven that aren't found in the Bible are mere conjecture) - but apartment or mansion, they'll still be living in the light of Jesus' presence! It is by grace that we are saved, through faith...not by works, not by our own effort (see Ephesians 2:8-9).



These are all things that I can't wait to teach our son in detail. We talk about it, and he looks up at us with huge wondering eyes, but the day he understands and experiences these truths is one I'll be excitedly anticipating as we help him grow.