Temptation

"Did God really say..." (Gen.3:1 ESV).  The age-old plan of the evil one and his servants has always been to sow doubt in the hearts and minds of the unwary faithful...to make us question the biblical validity of our faith.   I remember back to my time at Emmanuel & St. Chad Seminary...to so-called systematic theology classes where we were introduced to a "hermeneutic of suspicion".  This was a liberal presumption that everything the church had taught up to the present needed to be viewed with suspicion....and, if judged by present society as the result of ancient myths, be rejected out of hand as irrelevant.  Only that which could be supported by the narrow viewpoint of contemporary social and scientific thinking could be used to shape the mission and ministry of the church.  The seeds of destruction were sown in a whole generation of future church leaders.

Any who have walked through the last 15 years of Anglican church history can see the result of this "progressive" thinking.  The seeds have not only sprouted, but grown into invasive and faith-choking weeds.  Lives and ministries have been destroyed.  Thousands of North American believers have abandoned their faith and their church...and many more remain caught in the web of deceit, concealment and distortion woven by the Anglican Church of Canada and their ECUSA partners in sin south of the border.  As the US & Canadian denominations die, the faithful are vilified and blamed because they stood for truth.  

We should not be surprised by this. Jesus told us that it would happen. "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20b)  Thankfully, that is not the end of it. We are a people of promise and know that the trial we endure today will be redeemed, and what the "locust has eaten will be restored." (Joel 2:25 ESV) . Jesus said, "...you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22 ESV) and..."So, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven...but whom ever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 10:32-33 ESV)  

So...the quick answer to the question, "Did God really say?"  is YES!   It does matter what we believe and how we live out that faith in the community.  What we say and what we do matters. Our lips and our lives are a witness and a testament to the teaching, sacrifice and resurrection hope of Jesus.  The thousands who have just given up in the face of the struggle need to see that God does indeed have a hope and future for them. The millions who do not know Jesus need you and me to stand firm for them...to show them that God did indeed say...and his word is true.

 

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