This week the Adventist church in North America
was praying. Our annual week of prayer
focus was on Revival and the Word of God.
Tuesday many were “glued” to their TV (older folks J), or following on their
smart phones the live updates of the Big Tuesday, US election. Your FB posts tell your attitude toward the
results.
In the running days interesting details came to
light. Sunday before the election Roman Catholic
celebrating priests read appeals from their bishops, as they were required, of not
so thinly veiled endorsements of a certain candidate, some played a specially
produced video “Tested by Fire” emphasizing pro-life, pro-marriage,
pro-freedom. Billy Graham had taken public steps to embrace Romney for president
week before, removing Mormon religion from a list of cults on his website and
taking out an advertisement urging Christians to vote on Biblical values.
Thinking
of Biblical values…really?! A campaign
that was ran on lies? A representative
of a religion that was built on the notion of white supremacy? Did anyone check
if Romney sees himself as the fulfillment of the controversial “white horse”
prophecy that may shaped Mormon’s understanding of their role in prophecy? This
August as we traveled through Adventist heritage sites and birthplaces we also
stopped in Palmyra, NY, and toured sites around the Mormon religion origins. It
would take more than a paragraph to describe cultic devotion we witnessed there.
According to Mormon teaching, a time will come when the United States
constitution will be “hanging on a thread,” and the United States will look to
the Mormon Church for “exceedingly fair
and delightsome” deliverer to replaces the one who bears the “curse” of a “skin
of blackness” (check the context in the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 5:21).
Why
am I addressing these matters in a “Sabbath church-time” blog? Because the religious confusion should be a
concern to all Bible-believing Christians. Politics and religion shaking hands
is the Babylonian confusion from which we must call believers out. It has been 495 years since Martin Luther
nailed 95 accusations against church corruption on October 31 to his church
front door. Is the Reformation still ongoing
in our lives, in our community? What is
our stand on the Sola Scriptura? Is the
Bible still sole basis of authority in our lives? Are we standing on the Word of God?
The
Reformation is under fire in the land of it’s birth. A year ago (September 2011) the current pope BenedictXVI spoke for the first time in German history to the Bundestag
(parliament). The event was boycotted by
hundreds of MPs not attending, which were replaced by former members for
attendance numbers. Will the Reformation
be annulled on its 500th birthday?
The
only defence against the “wine” of Babylon is the Word of God. Bible is the sole basis of all reforms, and
beliefs. Could we say with Martin Luther
“Here I stand and I could do no other”? How is your personal devotion to the Bible, to
the Word of God? Are you following popular
trends of comfort and pursuit of personal happiness and pleasure, or are you
staying free from confusion, seeking safety of “It Is Written” of God’s Word?
Is the “Sword of faith,” the Word of God in your arsenal to have victory over deceptions?
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