Fraud abounds on the Internet! Just about daily, I get emails that tell me that Mrs. Woeful's husband died leaving her with $25 million and that if I will just send her my name, address, phone, and bank account information, she will send me $2 million of her money.... Right! Recently emails have started showing up that tell me I have won a large sum of money in a Microsoft drawing in Europe. It goes on to list a contact and to request the same data. Those fakes are easy to spot and get deleted with a quick click. The ones that are less obviously fraudulent are the ones that use real logos from places like EBay or PayPal or my bank. Invariably those emails tell me that my account has been compromised and that I need to log in to confirm my password, or something like that. If a person clicks the link in these so-called 'fishing' emails the crook gains access to the real account when he records login information!
Do you know that religious frauds exists as well? Some of them are obvious and I wonder how anybody could be taken in by the outlandishly ridiculous claims. Remember the guy from Puerto Rico who appeared on the news last year, who claims to be Jesus Christ on earth now? He hangs out with a bevy of beautiful young women, sips expensive whiskey, and has a criminal record and still there are thousands of people who follow him, who give millions of dollars to him, and who tragically think that he is showing them the way to eternal life. Much less obviously fraudulent are those 'churches' that emphasis morally upright lives, that preach a message of service and selflessness, but where the Cross of Christ is replaced by human effort! They use many of the right words and even the symbols of Christianity, but substitute mere goodness for the true righteousness of Christ. It's an old lie that has been around since the first generation of the Church.
The Scripture warns about this empty form of religiosity. Read on!
"God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body.
For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it. You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, "Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!"? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.
These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires. Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth." (Colossians 2:13-3:2, NLT)
How easily sincere people are taken in by the lie, "you can earn God's approval." Many make herculean efforts to be 'righteous.' They build a solid record of church attendance, kindness, and even self-denial in the vain hope of being good enough to merit Heaven. Jesus says that without a transformation of the spirit-man, which only happens through faith by the act of the Holy Spirit, any effort on our part to become holy, is like a new paint job on a mausoleum. The outside may shine brightly, but the inside is still full of death.
The amazing, wonderful, absolute Truth is that "God made you alive with Christ." Believe it, receive Him, and you gain 'imputed righteousness.' That's a theological way of saying that God will give you full acceptance as His child at Jesus Christ's expense. A holy life that results from this change is accompanied by joy and real delight in doing the will of God. From a distance a merely good person and a Spirit-filled holy person look much the same. Up close, there is an undeniable quality of love, of devotion, of integrity, and yes; of Life that refreshes, in the one with the new heart. Accept no substitutes for the true Gospel - the Good News of Jesus Christ who died and who lives to save us completely from our sin.
Here is a familiar passage. Read it again, with faith. Ponder the scandalous and wonderful truth of God's amazing grace as you remember these words.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10, NKJV)
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I stand amazed in the Presence
of Jesus, the Nazarene,
and wonder how He could love me,
a sinner, condemned, unclean.
He took my sins and my sorrows,
and made them His very own.
He bore the burden to Calvary,
where He suffered and died alone.
When with the ransomed in glory,
His face at last I'll see,
will be my joy through the ages,
to sing of His love for me!
How marvelous! How wonderful!
and my song shall ever be!
How marvelous. How wonderful!
is my Savior's love for me.
- Charles Gabriel
Public Domain
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