A DEAFENING SILENCE
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
AUGUST 9, 2009
Although it wasn’t necessary; the Lord reassured
me this past week that the biblical issues I’ve been addressing in my last
two messages and the method I utilized to convey them were exactly what He
desired. I have to admit I don’t like preaching about such issues but I must.
If I didn’t, I believe I would be sinning greatly. The great Apostle Paul
expressed my sentiment when he said “Woe to me if I do not preach the
gospel,” (1 Cor. 9:16) and he reminded me about those times when I ask folks
to pray for me, “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly
to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,” (Eph. 6:20). I don’t expect to
wind up in prison like Paul, but I’m sure these sermons will go over like
a lead balloon with some of my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I also
know we respect each other so much that we will simply agree to disagree and continue serving our Lord together.
The Lord encouraged me through my daughter Anne-Marie’s
entry in my web site guest book when she wrote: “...the storyline is as entertaining as the stories are
helpful and inspiring.” I was also encouraged when several folks told
me they are examining my messages carefully and judging them through the lens
of Scripture. In other words, they are not accepting everything being taught
by a fallible a man such as myself. That’s awfully sweet music too my ears.
I was also blessed in an unusual manner at Harvest Time this past week by
something that was said which jogged my memory about an awful remark made
a few years ago by a man who has since been taken home to be with the Lord.
He had been greatly influenced by the teachings of televangelist John Hagee
[AKA Pastor Strangelove]. Although it slipped out of his mouth at a Bible
study I attended with him the man expressed his heartfelt desire when he blurted
out: “I wish they [
“For whatever was written
in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and
through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope, Romans 15:4 (ESV).
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV).
Our Creator has given each of us
the freedom to choose whether or not to believe the Bibles assertion that
it is the divinely inspired Word of the living God. The first sentence of
The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 concisely expresses it like this:
“The Holy Scripture is the all-sufficient, certain and infallible rule or
standard of the knowledge, faith and obedience that constitutes salvation.”
If we chose not to believe this we will one day have to defend our rejection
of the Bible to its divine Author. It behooves all Christians to heed the
following warnings about being deceived.
“Do
not be deceived,"
1 Corinthians
15:33 (ESV).
“Let
no one deceive
you with empty words, Ephesians 5:6 (ESV).
“Let
no one deceive
you in any way, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (ESV).
“Little
children, let no one deceive you,” 1 John 3:7 (ESV).
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers, James 1:16 (ESV).
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also
reap,” Galatians
6:7 (ESV)
“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing,
he deceives himself,” Galatians 6:3 (ESV).
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks
that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise,”
1 Corinthians 3:18
(ESV)
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us,” 1 John 1:8 (ESV)
The bottom line is; we must do everything possible not to
allow ourselves to become deceived or to deceive ourselves and others as well.
This is our responsibility and, as I said a moment ago, God has given each
of us the freedom to choose not to obey His commands and experience the consequences.
Becoming deceived is rampant throughout today’s Church. That’s why I’m constantly
reminding you folks to search the Scriptures for yourselves to see if what
I’m teaching is indeed true. In the preface of a little booklet the author
echo’s my advice by cautioning his readers to “read this material prayerfully,
asking Yahweh to guide you into His truth. And read it with an open Bible,
an open heart and an open mind. Be skeptical of my conclusions, and of
preachers, teachers and religious authors, all.” (A) In other words, don’t
allow yourself to be deceived by any of those guys, including me!
It’s the kind of misguided thinking I’ve been
speaking about that inclines some Christians such as myself who, when they
seriously contemplate some of the awful things human beings have done to each
other throughout history, including the unspeakable horrors sexual predators
have subjected their victims to, especially the little children; these Christians
are very apt to plead with our Father as I have done in the past begging Him
to send His Son back and end it all. I prayed this way on and off up until
six or seven years ago and then I stopped. Since then I have been doing my
best to speak out in protest against such evils as a mothers right to butcher
her tiny defenseless unborn baby as well as trying to persuade our legislators
to enact tough laws to better assure the safety and well being of all Vermonters.
In my own way, I try to take advantage of every divinely ordained opportunity
to influence the folks in my corner of the world to get with God’s program
and obey the teachings of Jesus.
“Now the eleven disciples went to
In addition, we have to deal with the same pessimistic mindset
which insists that today’s Christians should just focus on carrying out only
a part of the Great Commission. This is another hindrance we must overcome.
Allow me to share the following email which was received by Gary DeMar, a
man I have met and whose ministry I respect greatly. DeMar writes: “Would
you [DeMar] not see that the main concern of the church is to preach the gospel,
baptize, disciple believers in matters concerning their lives as believers
in Christ JESUS? HE himself did not come to affect or change political,
social, or economic status in the present world. Noah was not commissioned
to alter social conditions. PAUL in his ministry and mission did not focus
on changing the social status of the then known world. His message was, ‘BE
NOT CONFORMED TO THIS PRESENT BUT BE YOU TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR
MIND [
DeMar
explains: “The above was sent to me by an anonymous e mailer. I suspect that
its sentiments are representative of how many Christians believe. Let’s look
at the opening question which is more of a statement. Certainly Christians
are to preach the gospel, baptize, and disciple. Notice how the writer wants
to limit discipleship to “matters concerning their lives as believers in Christ
JESUS.” Discipleship is being limited to the personal. But Jesus doesn’t
put a limitation on the broadness of discipleship (Matt. 28:18–20). Notice
that its “nations” that are to be discipled. In a short response to the emailer,
I pointed out that Jesus did not marry or have children. He didn’t own a house
or have a job. In fact, He didn’t own anything: “The foxes have holes and
the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His
head” (Matt. 8:20). If we follow the logic of the anonymous e mailer, Christians
should not get married; have children, own a home, or posses anything other
than the bare necessities which would make us perpetual beggars.” (B)
Elsewhere DeMar writes: “For years, I have been
dealing with issues related to the last days. I got involved in this topic
because Christians were using last-days theology as a way to explain the state
of the world and why Christians can’t do anything to reverse present trends.
[John] MacArthur is representative of this view when he writes, “‘Reclaiming’
the culture is a pointless, futile exercise. I am convinced,” he writes, “we
are living in a post-Christian society—a civilization that exists under God’s
judgment.” (C)Throughout the years God has used MacArthur and blessed many
of His children including me through this good man. However, in this instance
I must respectfully disagree with him because I believe he has been deceived
and is unknowingly deceiving others and leading them astray. Please don’t
misunderstand me. I’m not accusing MacArthur of being a false teacher because
nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, he is a mistaken
brother who is teaching a falsehood.
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them,”
Ephesians
5:11 (ESV). And that is exactly what I have been attempting to accomplish
with this series of messages which are designed to expose what I believe to
be a work of darkness. However I must caution you again to remember I’m not
infallible, so consider my teaching with an open mind and heart and then prayerfully
judge it through the lens of scripture.
I believe another major impediment for folks who take the Great Commission
seriously is fellow Christians who are deliberately deceiving themselves.
Although they have finally discovered the truth about the end of the world
nonsense but, depending on the intensity of their past advocacy of this false
teaching, they are unwilling to accept it. They know what they formally believed
is false but act as though it’s true. These Christians deceive themselves
into behaving like the fox in Aesop’s fable. “Aesop tells a story about a fox that tried in vain to reach a cluster of
grapes that dangled from a vine above his head. The fox leapt high to grasp
the grapes, but the delicious-looking fruit remained just out of reach of
his snapping jaws. After a few attempts the fox gave up and said to himself,
‘‘These grapes are sour, and if I had some I would not eat them." Aesop’s
fable is the source of the phrase ‘‘sour grapes." The story illustrates
what former
“Cognitive
dissonance is a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt
at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information
or interpretation. If someone is called upon to learn something which contradicts
what they already think they know — particularly if they are committed to
that prior knowledge — they are likely to resist the new learning. If learning something has been difficult, uncomfortable, or even
humiliating enough, people are less likely
to concede that the content of what has been learned is useless, pointless
or valueless. To do so would be to admit that one has been "had",
or "conned". (D) In other words, “Once a person has invested blood,
sweat, tears and money into religious
deception, he may be too embarrassed or too stubborn to admit he has been
taken. Our hearts are where our treasure has gone. Our vested interest helps
us keep the blinders on. We often only “see” what we want to see.” (E)
The church Jesus Christ
paid such an agonizing price to purchase is under a relentless attack by Gods
enemies. As I mentioned earlier, it isn’t only from those who despise it,
but from one another as well. For instance, “It’s not uncommon for brothers
and sisters in Christ to do and say all sorts of awful things to one another.
Gossip, bad-mouthing, envy, sexual immorality, throwing temper-tantrums and
such, seem to be as prevalent within Christ’s church as they are outside.
So much so, that many professed Christians are indistinguishable from those
who aren’t.” (F)
“Some of Christ’s churches have succumbed to
a market driven mentality. It isn’t unusual to hear His Word come out of the
mouth of a man acting like a clown or comedian. All too many of God’s children
are living beyond their means, and are enslaved by the pursuit of acquiring
more and more temporal possessions and money. They lavish upon themselves
unnecessary things instead of sharing their abundance with the poor, the ones
God’s Son has a soft spot in His heart for. Others are overly preoccupied
with worldly pleasures that they spend very little of their time thinking
about the Lord and meditating on the His Word, or going to Him in prayer except
when they want something. “(G)
In closing, I must call your attention to one
more group of believers within the Christian community whom I believe are
a major obstacle to evangelizing the lost. Although these folks know the truth
and firmly believe the Bible is the divinely inspired inerrant Word of God; they will not
speak out in vigorous protest against the works of darkness taking place in
the church’s they attend. For instance, they know the church is ruled by a
corrupt system and that some of the organizations unbiblical teachings and
despicable practices treat Jesus, His cross and His Word with blatant contempt.
These Christians appear to be oblivious to the humiliation and shear agony
Jesus had to suffer on His cross in their place and indifferent as to how
He must feel about their involvement with such a church. These fellow sisters
and brothers in Christ reinforce the false churches claim to legitimacy by
their attendance at the services and support of them, whether it’s with their
time, energy or money. And yet, I doubt if they have ever stopped to seriously
consider how Jesus must feel. They deceive themselves into believing Jesus
will somehow understand their justification for attending and not be upset
with them. To the outside world these Christians are giving credibility to
its teachings, respectability to its practices and justifying its continued
existence by their association with such churches on a fairly regular basis.
As far as these very serious issues I have raised are concerned, they seem
hell bent on maintaining A DEAFENING SILENCE. Try explaining their
silence to an intelligent knowledgeable skeptic who has been sincerely searching
the Bible looking for the truth.
Lord willing,
in a couple of weeks...
(A)
http://s128601634.onlinehome.us/sermons/bible_speak.htm
(B)http://www.americanvision.org/article/just-preach-the-gospel
(C)http://www.americanvision.org/article/john-macarthurs-prophetic- confusion/
(D) Cognitive
Dissonance Theory of
Leon Festinger Chapter
16.
(E) Personal Freedom Outreach http://www.pfo.org/deceived.htm
(F) http://s128601634.onlinehome.us/sermons/lament.htm