More Whatifs...
More Whatifs….
We’ve been hearing the phrase "Jesus is the way and every other way is not the way."
This is not ‘politically correct.’ ‘Enlightened’ people are meant to believe that "All paths lead to heaven… if you want to believe in heaven… If you don’t want to believe in heaven… well that’s OK too… what ever works for you… so long as you’re happy." or "There are many pathways to heaven, just choose the one that’s best for you."
But Jesus says "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father (gets to heaven) except through me."
Jesus is the way and every other way is not the way. A well-taught Christian will stand very firmly on this. Christians will not argue among themselves about this. We accept this as truth.
Here’s the whatif…
"There are many paths to healing"… You know where I’m going with this. Already the alarm bells are ringing….
Whatif… Jesus is the way and every other way is not the way. Whatif… God is the healer and the only way to God the Healer is through Jesus Christ, who himself bore our weakness, took up our infirmities, carried our diseases.
Whatif… our belief that there are many paths to healing is viewed by God to be idolatry, an affront to his provision of grace through his son Jesus Christ. An attempt to fix ourselves. Man fixing man, rather than God fixing man. An unauthorized tampering with creation by one who did not create it. (Even car dealers get cranky about this sort of thing…)
Whatif… the reason many of us are sick and even dying is because we have failed to recognize the ‘body broken for us’. 1Cor.11.29? We recognize the blood spilled, but do we recognize the body broken? Do we distinguish between the two? Should we? What about the stripes? We know our sins are forgiven, but Psalm 103 says "forget not ALL his benefits – who forgives ALL our sins, AND heals ALL our diseases, who redeems our life from the pit and … more and more and more…."
We get very unhappy when we hear a "Jesus +" gospel, which is no gospel at all. Whatif… the same were true of Jesus + a doctor.., Jesus + medicine.., Jesus + herbal remedies… Whatif a prophet of God came and told us in no uncertain terms that we are first worshipping at the temple, leaving our sacrifices and then scurrying off to Baal… to cover all the bases? Jesus plus…. Would we stone him? Would we say he’d lost his mind? Would we call him divisive? Offensive?
Whatif James… one of the founding fathers of the church gave this instruction… "Is anyone sick? He should call the elders…. And then… just to cover all the bases, pursue every other avenue (pathway) to healing you can find and/or afford."
Whatif… a very famous, very well respected, but very seldom read man would write these words for all to see. "Divine Healing is a Command… Divine healing ceases to be a mere privilege. It is the divine prescription for disease, and no obedient Christian can safely ignore it. Any other method of dealing with sickness is unauthorized. This is God’s plan. This makes faith simple and easy. We have only to obey in childlike confidence: God will fulfill."
Would we follow him, would we respect him still? It’s pretty bold. Pretty different… Bet you’d be surprised who wrote this…. (it wasn’t me…)
Whatif… like the learners test… we think we know it all…?
These are the questions I’m asking.
We’ve been hearing the phrase "Jesus is the way and every other way is not the way."
This is not ‘politically correct.’ ‘Enlightened’ people are meant to believe that "All paths lead to heaven… if you want to believe in heaven… If you don’t want to believe in heaven… well that’s OK too… what ever works for you… so long as you’re happy." or "There are many pathways to heaven, just choose the one that’s best for you."
But Jesus says "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father (gets to heaven) except through me."
Jesus is the way and every other way is not the way. A well-taught Christian will stand very firmly on this. Christians will not argue among themselves about this. We accept this as truth.
Here’s the whatif…
"There are many paths to healing"… You know where I’m going with this. Already the alarm bells are ringing….
Whatif… Jesus is the way and every other way is not the way. Whatif… God is the healer and the only way to God the Healer is through Jesus Christ, who himself bore our weakness, took up our infirmities, carried our diseases.
Whatif… our belief that there are many paths to healing is viewed by God to be idolatry, an affront to his provision of grace through his son Jesus Christ. An attempt to fix ourselves. Man fixing man, rather than God fixing man. An unauthorized tampering with creation by one who did not create it. (Even car dealers get cranky about this sort of thing…)
Whatif… the reason many of us are sick and even dying is because we have failed to recognize the ‘body broken for us’. 1Cor.11.29? We recognize the blood spilled, but do we recognize the body broken? Do we distinguish between the two? Should we? What about the stripes? We know our sins are forgiven, but Psalm 103 says "forget not ALL his benefits – who forgives ALL our sins, AND heals ALL our diseases, who redeems our life from the pit and … more and more and more…."
We get very unhappy when we hear a "Jesus +" gospel, which is no gospel at all. Whatif… the same were true of Jesus + a doctor.., Jesus + medicine.., Jesus + herbal remedies… Whatif a prophet of God came and told us in no uncertain terms that we are first worshipping at the temple, leaving our sacrifices and then scurrying off to Baal… to cover all the bases? Jesus plus…. Would we stone him? Would we say he’d lost his mind? Would we call him divisive? Offensive?
Whatif James… one of the founding fathers of the church gave this instruction… "Is anyone sick? He should call the elders…. And then… just to cover all the bases, pursue every other avenue (pathway) to healing you can find and/or afford."
Whatif… a very famous, very well respected, but very seldom read man would write these words for all to see. "Divine Healing is a Command… Divine healing ceases to be a mere privilege. It is the divine prescription for disease, and no obedient Christian can safely ignore it. Any other method of dealing with sickness is unauthorized. This is God’s plan. This makes faith simple and easy. We have only to obey in childlike confidence: God will fulfill."
Would we follow him, would we respect him still? It’s pretty bold. Pretty different… Bet you’d be surprised who wrote this…. (it wasn’t me…)
Whatif… like the learners test… we think we know it all…?
These are the questions I’m asking.
posted by toomanywhatifs at
6:32 PM
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