Engaging the pew sitters

By Darren Weeks

I have a web site that I started in the late 90s, called Doubters Dot Net. It was my first real web project.

When I started it, my goal was to prove everything that I'd always believed about God, the Bible, and the Christian life. I believed that too many Christians don't ask questions about the origins of their beliefs. I believed, as I still do, that God didn't give me a brain if He didn't expect me to use it.

Proving that God exists isn't difficult in my mind. All one has to do is look around. Evidence of the divine One is everywhere.

Contrarily, I had great difficulty proving the authenticity of the Bible. Even Christian apologists admit that it was copied repeatedly by Jews throughout history. Since they didn't have any other way of preserving the text, they were reduced to utilizing parchment. However, just as paper does not last forever, parchment also degrades over time. Hence, the copying of the text from one manuscript to create a new manuscript.

It is sobering to consider the possibility that, at any point during the copying process, words could have been changed or whole books added or subtracted.

This might not be such an important topic to consider, were it not for the fact that Christians today point to the prophesies of old as a reason why we shouldn't be involved in the governmental process. They say that since the evil that is happening today was forecast in the Bible, we cannot stop it. It's going to happen, anyway. So why try? We should instead look for Christ's return to rescue us.

I have a problem with that.

First, if God is absolutely good, as I believe Him to be, then how could evil ever be a part of His great plan?

Second, since Christians read the Biblical prophecies of globalism and war in the Bible and hence refuse to act, it becomes somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophesy. Because when the good people do nothing, the wicked prosper.

There are enough Christian people in the U.S.A., that if we'd all stand up against the evil in this world, we could throw the globalists for a million loops. At the very least, we could set them back a hundred years.

Yet, the Christians have been silenced by ignorance, and by their belief in Bible prophecy. They believe that "serving God" equates with attending church one to three times a week. For the enthusiastic ones, mowing the church lawn or vacuuming between the pews is their contribution to "changing the world" for Christ.

No one ever writes letters to the editor of a newspaper. No one ever writes a letter or makes a call to a senator, representative, governor, etc. No one ever attends a city council meeting, etc. No one ever even makes an attempt at finding out why it is that 30 or 40 years ago, a family could live on one income; now it requires two.

Please understand that my attempt is not to attack the Bible. I believe that the Bible is very valuable and contains a lot of wisdom.

In fact, the Bible, itself, says in Matthew 24:24 that false prophets and teachers would arise and show signs and wonders and that even the very elect would be deceived. Looking around at the present condition of the church, it's failure to be the "salt and light" of God in this world, it isn't hard for me to see how this will happen. They follow television preachers, who tickle their ears and prey upon their willing emotions. Accepting that these are "anointed" men of God, they will believe nearly any exegesis, given in an emotionally-delivered homily. Easily deceived? Yes, when you don't think enough to ask questions.

And the fact remains that to use the Bible as a reason to shirk your duties on earth is unacceptable. It amounts to being — as the old saying goes — "so heavenly minded, that you're no earthly good". And given the mandate of Christ to "preach the gospel" to every creature (Mark 16:15), I don't think Jesus would be too happy with that.

The gospel is more than a religious message. The gospel is, very simply, the truth.

And there is a lot of truth that is being buried because Christians refuse to dig for it. Ultimately, if they don't repent, they will pay for their inaction. Because the satanic system that is being thrust upon them will someday inhibit their genuine worship of the Creator.

So, to the churches — both preachers and pew sitters alike — who refuse to be involved in the things of this world, I say, "Repent!" Get your hands dirty for the Lord, so your hearts can be clean.