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No easy passage, but a safe landing
By Emmanuel
Moyana
THERE is a saying which says, “the silence of the virtuous is
a license for the vicious.”
Christians the world over should stand up and speak on issues that affect us on a daily basis rather than leave that to those who are obsessed and possessed with the spirit of the Anti-Christ.
Many people the world over ask the question, “Why should we worship God?” Some have wondered whether it is worth it to worship God at all whilst others wonder why evil seems to prosper if God is all powerful. Others, both Christians and non Christians alike often wonder why there is so much suffering if God is good.
The answer is that yes indeed it is worth it to worship God even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges that we may go through. Challenges are in fact stepping stones when we put them in their right place. Instead of letting challenges weaken our faith in God they should in fact point us to our Creator who alone is able to redeem us from the same. Some will say that there are people throughout the world who do not believe in Christ and yet they are living pretty well. The question is are they really living pretty well? Do they have peace of mind? Do they have happiness? True happiness is the ability to put up a smile even in the midst of pain and suffering. It is the capacity to withstand the heat when an average person would give up. It is the ability to gather up courage in a sea of cowardice, to be loyal in a sea of treason and to be a champion when the odds are against you that you can really be happy.
In order to have a sense of achievement one must go through trials and tribulations. One is not a warrior who has never been on the battle field. In a battlefield you cannot expect to be given flowers but rather you get attacks from the enemy and the price is your life. If you can successfully defend your life on the battlefield then you are a hero.
However it is sad that some people forget that we are in a battlefield with Satan and our commander in Jesus. Our warfare is unique in that Jesus has already won the war and by accepting His marching orders on the battlefield we too will share in His victory. Of course the fight is going to be bitter because Satan the enemy of souls is determined that we must die. However our commander in Chief is determined that we must live and all that is needed is our availability so that he can give us the ability to overcome and retain our lives as trophies of victory.
Sicknesses, pain, death, sorrow, poverty are nothing but passing phases in this battlefield as compared to the eternal price we shall gain in the territory called heaven. So yes there is so much suffering but suffering in the hands of one who believes in Jesus is a stepping stone to higher heights we can reach in this world and the world to come. Hardships should be viewed as temporary set backs. There is a saying which says,”every set back is a set up for a step up.” Problems must be viewed as opportunities and not impossibilities. All these things come only when one believes and trusts in God.
Some seem think that God is not necessary if one is rich. Indeed many wealthy people do not care about God at all and are not even ashamed to declare that He doesn’t exist. But there are others who are rich and fear God. As one who has been a counselor before I have seen that wealth does not bring happiness at all unless if one is anchored on Jesus. A person can be rich and be stressed. Another can be powerful and yet be highly insecure, no wonder why some of the most powerful people in the world today cannot walk freely in the streets without body guards. However those who believe and trust in Jesus need not fear for they know that their Lord watches over them. God Himself has not given us the spirit of fear but of love.
I personally am a believer in Jesus Christ who is one together with God or in other words who is the express image of the invisible God (Matthew 28: 19, 20; John 1:1 to 4).Faith in Him brings reconciliation with God because sin has separated us with our creator. He Christ was given as a sacrifice for humanity so that we might have healing form the ruinous effects of sin which is responsible for the untold hardships that this world is currently experiencing.
Turning to issue as to why we should worship God. The answer is that we should worship God because of who He is. The Christian Bible in the book of Genesis 1:1 declares Him as the Creator. Others who worship other gods do not have anything on creation. Those who worship spirit mediums (which are but demonic spirits who impersonate dead people who are known to have lived) do not have anything on creation. Those who worship dead people know to well that they bow down to a heap of bones that in themselves are helpless which a sober mind should understand that they cannot help those who are living. If there is anyone to help the other it is the living who must bury the dead not vice versa.
However Christianity tells how the world came to be. The bible in the book of Genesis tells that God created the world from nothing. God only spoke and everything came into being (see Genesis chapter one).Thus a God who is able to create something from nothing is worthy of worship and adoration. When you have a relationship with Him you can be assured that when there is nothing in your life He will create something.
When you are down to nothing He is up to something. He is able to speak life into your dead situation. You do not to fear when God is in charge of your life. Those who come to Jesus must know that He does not promise any easy passage but a safe landing. At the same time He does not say you must suffer a lot in this world so that you can be rich in Heaven as some Marxist say. On the contrary He says in the book of Jeremiah 29: 11 He has great plans for us to proper us in this generation. In the book of Deuteronomy he promises us that if we keep all His commandments we will be Heads and not tails. So God is a God of prosperity and not the enemy of it as some contend He is.
The other question some ask is, if God is all powerful why does evil seem to prosper? The reason why evil seems to be prospering in this world is the majority love it. God could have destroyed Satan and all the evil people and that would have seen evil wiped out of existence. But then who has not sinned (see Romans 3:23).That would mean that there would be no one left in this world. A loving God gives His children a chance to forsake sinful ways and cling unto Him so that they can be saved. God doesn’t want any one to perish but desires everyone to be saved (see John 3: 16) hence he bears long with humanity. God loves all people but hates sin in all its forms. He loves the sinner who has the sin and hates the sin that is in the sinner.
The nature of man is that he is by nature evil, selfish, greedy and all human ills that you can think of. This accounts for all the misery that is in the world today. There is violence, oppression, dictatorships, wars, sickness, all of which are effects of breaking God’s commandments (see Exodus 20:1 – 17). The selfishness of man is seen in that only a tiny minority controls the majority of this world’s wealth. The technologies of this world are designed perpetuate this state of injustice and moreover to subdue the weaker so as to monopolize ownership of the world’s resources. Education systems are designed to produce workers and not possessors of wealthy. This in contrast to the principles of God which basically hinge on love. The bible declares God as Love (1 John 4:8). Since God is love He has permitted evil to develop its principles so that humanity can be able to make choices based on results that can be clearly seen.
God has given humanity the power of choice. The principle of love is that it must not be forced. When force is used then love ceases to be love. If God had destroyed the Devil then humanity would have followed God out of fear and not out of love and free choice as is the case now. Humanity would then not have been free under the government of God. But seeing as humanity freely chooses to follow God, and then humanity will also freely rejoice under the same God. Humanity has had the opportunity of seeing the true character of Satan, that he is a murderer, a liar, cruel and all sorts of ills. His murderous nature was shown when he put the Son of God to death at Calvary though human agents. Given the chance he could have killed the Father also. In the book of Job he brought a terrible sickness on Job as he does now but however he was shamed at the end because Job remained faithful to God even in terrible times.
I would like to urge all the people to forsake the ways of darkness and seek God. In seeking for people must focus on Christ and Christ alone. We live in a world in which in which the anti Christ has brought deception even into the church so as to destroy those who are within and discourage those who are from without. The wickedness of some nominal Christians should not be a discouragement as God in every generation has a remnant that save him and follow his commandments (see Revelations 14:12 & Revelations 12:17). Our only refuge is diligent study (not mere reading) of God’s word (the bible).
Emmanuel Moyana
is a Social Work Student at the University of Fort Hare
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