This month of November is the beginning of insanity thanks to the commercial push to present the public with various articles and deals from the latest electronic spyware gadgets that will do everything for you but what needs to be done for personal well-being and responsibilities such as relationships and work. Advertisement will tell us we can’t live without its latest wonder, the world will tell us the latest gadget will make life easier, the flesh will become attracted to how something will serve its purpose, and the lust will cause us to rise up out of any complacency and be the first at the door to get the best price so we think that we are getting a good deal to soothe any conscience on something that in the end might prove to be obsolete within the next few months and be cast to the side.
The preacher in Ecclesiastes best defined all of it when it came to the flesh and the world in Ecclesiastes 1:2, “Vanities, of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” The three cord declaration points to the reality that such a truth is being constantly confirmed on all three fronts: the flesh, the world and the devil. For the flesh it points to corruption of the soul which produces vanity, to the world it points to perversion of the soul which ends in vanity, and when it comes Satan, he takes the soul captive, proving it is all vanity that leads to emptiness, uselessness, and senselessness that ends in destruction.
We must ask ourselves as believers why do we choose the vanities of our present age to that which would prove fulfilling to our soul, refreshing to our spirit, and realistic to the flesh? How much of the vanities of this present world is affecting our attitude towards life? In the month of Thanksgiving are we should be taking stock of God’s many gifts in our life, the blessings that has been bestowed on us, and the excellent ways that has been provided for us to walk in and if we aren’t, why not? We then have to consider how much of our attitude has been influenced by the philosophies and false promises of our age (James 1:17; 1 John 2:15-17).
The reason I know the preacher is correct about his findings, is that much of my initial years even as a Christian was taken up with vanity. In my godless state, I bought the world’s presentations, I thought I had to have such things to function, but I found I was often trying to contend with the desires of my lusts stirred up by the conditioning of the world with its advertisements that always left me empty. When I became a Christian, I simply thought certain worldly means would add to my life in Christ, yet I found that it greatly affected my attitude about spiritual things in a wrong way. Just as the Bible stated it robbed me of certain time and energy (Matthew 13:7, 22; John 10:10; Ephesians 5:15-17).
I began to realize there were certain things that I had need of to function in this world, but even those things, I had to hold lightly to because in the end they only took me so far. It was obvious the world was on a fast track ever promising greater improved or faster means to get things done and I had to be open for change and enlargement if I was going to keep up with effective presentations. However, it became obvious to me the world was in constant flux that brought waves of possibilities onto the shores of many people’s lives but most proved to be fads that caught the fancy of many, but left them with very little change and evidence of transformation of minds and souls (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 6:27-34; John 17:14-16; Romans 12:1; Ephesians 4:14; James 4:4).
While progressing in some areas, the world constantly proved to be on a downhill slide causing man to ever digress spiritually, morally, and mentally. Unless there was some spiritual reformation taking place that would pull man out of the gutter of his imagination, and caused him to look upward and truly repent, it often left a void. Even if there were great moves of God at different times, as soon as the flesh touched them for some personal gain, they stopped and ended up becoming lifeless man-made traditions and doctrines that try to recapture what was fleeing for some, while leaving many adrift without any means to navigate their spiritual lives through the endless debris of lies and heresies that seemed to follow.
The Apostle Paul made reference to these worldly philosophies that can greatly shape our thinking in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not of Christ.” Rudiment points to the foundation of the world. Notice how the philosophy of this world can spoil man. It is based on vain deceit and traditions of men and not on Christ. How can such things spoil us. They produce a wrong attitude, set up a wrong value system, will determine our worldview, and are founded on lies that are far from truth.
I have been reading a couple of books that cause me to think outside of my small boxes of understanding. I like to be challenged about what I understand because so much of it is based on assumptions of the past that is greatly determining the presumptions I have about the future.
The reality is that most of our initial life is based on assumptions about life. Without realizing it we start out as agnostics, sensing there could be some God out there, but He is not really personal, interested in mankind, or all that involve with them. We are born with a white slate, but unless the Holy Spirit writes on that slate, we pretty much live in that ungodly state of ignorance towards God. As a result, we operate in vague notions about Him, defining who we think He is. Sadly, it is from these premises we consider religious matters (Acts 17:30-31; Romans 5:6-8; 7:6; 10:2-4).
The truth is we are greatly influenced by what we see in relationship to such influences as Hollywood, as well as what we perceive according to the culture we grow up in as far as what is acceptable, and the type of attitudes we adopt due to what our family displays towards God and life. We do not realize all of these influences along with experiences are establishing a worldview that is going to create the type of filters we look through to make judgment calls about God, life and even ourselves.
We struggle to be our own person and often times feel our family is trying to define us according to their ideas, while failing to see how our peers are influencing us based on culture, as we look to our associations to provide possible opportunities. We fail to see that our need to be free from others defining us has led to rebellion that has caused us to become lost in anger and resentment.
When it comes to worldly influences, they have left us in confusion as to who we really are and our associations leave us hanging on some limb of disillusionment that leaves us tasting the bitterness of abandonment, rejection, or hopelessness. It is almost as if we are being sucked into some hole that leaves us with nothing, fall into some pit that leaves us without purpose, and some dark canyon that leaves us without any real direction. The end result is we come out utterly skeptics towards all things.
This brings me back to the boxes. Every since I became a Christian the Lord has rattled my doctrinal boxes to wake me up to their limitations. He has used the sharp sword of truth to take away the blinders, the hammer of it to break the shackles, the shaking of it to reveal my foundation, fire to purge me of the old, and water to cleanse me of the residues of the world, but each point of deliverance required me to believe, trust, and obey. The walk of faith has led me through the darkness as I believed His Word, trusted that my hand was in His hand, my feet would be kept from slipping, and my soul was anchored to the Rock (Jeremiah 23:29; Ephesians 5:26-27; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 4:12; 12: 26-29; 2 Peter 1:9).
The one book is about liberalism. Even though the man is coming from a perspective that is liberal even according to his definition of it, his presentation of the history of Biblical digression away from truth into liberalism is exceptional. Even though the man thinks he is starting from the premise of pure theological understanding, it is clear he has been blind-sighted by man-made doctrine and interpretations that has created a filter that thwarts his interpretation of Scripture making him liberal in his thinking while judging others as being so because they do not line up to his understanding of truth. However, his concept that anything that does not line up to God and His Word in Spirit and in line of the complete counsel of His Word no matter how close it is, how conservative it appears, how accepted it is by others, and how decent it may be, is still liberal, which makes his definition of liberalism correct.
God who never changes is the one who has established His Word and lifts up the correct standard in which all will be judged (Malachi 3:6). In this man’s book on liberalism, he pointed out that even through the dark ages the Christian faith was the only faith that promised believers a better existence than what this dark world could ever offer. Heaven was precious and the pursuit of it the only hope for mankind.
During the time of the Great Enlightenment which became prevalent during the French Revolution, and continues to this day, those who spearheaded it realized that the movement had nothing to really offer past one’s enlighten state. Enlightenment had to do with man being enlighten to his own abilities to be a solution to his problems which in their minds exposed supposedly exposes the fallacy that there is a God and in such a state man clearly does not need God. Eventually the philosophy graduated in some camps to mean discovering the divine within but it still brought no real hope of a better existence because of it. Those who perceived they were enlighten devise the idea of an utopia on earth. It is referred to with different terminology or names such as “Camelot,” “the City on the Hill,” “the American Dream,” and etc.
The idea of finding some garden of Eden on earth has prompted man, and even Christians to work at establishing such an environment while pursuing the world’s standards and false promises to obtain it, rather than heaven. This detour has caused many to cast aside the significance of heaven in relationship to the deception and vanity of the world. The truth is the world has nothing of significance to offer that would be of any value and worth, and that is why the concept of “utopia” on earth had to be dressed up in lies of false promises. Sadly, the delusion is firmly in place, has been conditioned in our psyche, and indoctrinated into the soul in such a way, many are pursuing it without even realizing what they are doing and that it will never satisfy the real longing of the soul.
This brings us to the real dark side of enlightenment. Since no real utopia can be found, established, or brought forth on earth, what has been ushered in is also the age of disillusionment. Man is being set up to feel betrayed, let down by false promises as he becomes disillusioned with his existence. The problem is instead of pinpointing the real culprit behind his disillusionment which comes back to a philosophy of a godless world, wicked men, and evil agendas, God is often blamed for the purposeless life that has been established. We do not realize it but when we become disillusioned with life, we often become disillusioned with the giver of life.
What are the fruits of disillusionment? What about discontentment, satisfied with nothing because nothing leaves a leanness in the spirit. What about thankfulness. We have been spoiled by the concept of something that has been romanticized, promoted, peddled, and flaunted, but never materializes because it is a lie.
Without thankfulness towards our Lord, we sit in insipid worlds of hopelessness, self-pity, and despair. There is no light to be seen on the horizon for all of life on earth will become like a bad joke that must be constantly swallowed. There is no Garden of Eden because there is poison all about, in the fruit I dare not eat, in the attractive flowers I dare not touch, in the knowledge I dare not believe, and in the promises that are empty and worthless, ever leaving me spiritually emaciated.
I am looking forward to heaven, but I know there will be a thousand years of peace before our Lord brings forth a new heaven and earth. As one of His saints, I will be somehow ruling and reigning with Him in those thousand years (Revelation 20:6; 21:1). It is true I can’t imagine what the new heaven and earth entails, but I know one thing, my Jesus will be there and that is all that really matters. Meanwhile He is my heaven on earth, His glory my future reality, and His promises the fulfillment of my hope that I was promised in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear head, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” That is enough for me now, continues to be enough as I endure and wait patiently for the time I shall see Him face to face, and that hope alone will sustain me until He calls me home.