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Truth Versus Lies: Is God Whatever We Want Him To Be?
Yesterday I preached “One Way,” a sermon from 1 Timothy 2:4-7. From this passage, we see three great truths about our God. Not surprisingly, Satan has a “counterfeit truth,” which is a fancy way of saying “a lie,” for each of these great truths.
Truth #1 — One God (vv. 4-5)
There is only one God, and He has revealed Himself to us through the Bible and through the person of Jesus Christ. (Deuteronomy 6:4, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:6, Ezekiel 33:11, and John 3:16).
Satan wants us to believe that God is whatever we want Him to be. He’s convinced many of us that everyone serves and prays to the same God — that every religion presents a partial portrait of the same deity. Or, that there isn’t really a “god,” but it’s fine to think otherwise … just don’t act or speak as if you really believe it.
Check out this quote from last week’s LEO Weekly, in a review of the latest Ricky Skaggs bluegrass album:
“Lyrically, Skaggs’ proselytizing runneth over … alienating believers from other rich, no less significant faiths. Everyone has the right to celebrate and practice his or her religion, but a god of inclusion and tolerance seems like a much more attractive, magnetic idea. Records like this don’t advance civilization’s needle one inch.”
With all respect to the reviewer, it doesn’t matter what seems like a more attractive, magnetic idea to him, to me, to you, or to any other finite, sinful person. Not if the Bible is true and Christ is risen from the grave — a historical fact that no other religion can match (for more on this, listen to this lecture from Gary Habermas, recorded at our East Campus).
A god of our invention is no god at all. What’s the point of worshiping a god like that? Why not just drop the illusion and say “There is no god”?
About Daniel Montgomery
The assumption of the reviewer seem to be that he or she has some authority to lay down an ethic that humans ought to adhere to- “Everyone has the right to celebrate and practice their religion.” What I would be tickled to hear is how this reviewer came to the conclusion that each person should have their right to religion. They are probably using the US constitutions 1st amendment as their authority, but it appears to me that there is also emotion behind their comment.
What the reviewer failed to realize is his own intolerance of Ricky Scaggs’ right to his religion. I am sure that R.S. is not worried about advancing civilization but worried about people’s ever living never dying souls.
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As we can all see, being bold and forth coming with Truth is going to begin to really separate the wheat from the tares! Church, we ain’t seen nothing yet in regards to suffering for our faith. MARANATHA!!!