Tag Archives: Erasing God

Erasing God by Peggy

As we come upon the holiday season, it seems to me that most people get very contemplative about God. That’s a good thing—most of the time.

We also seem to become very conscious and aware of the political climate of our towns, schools, nation and even the world. We see more and more incidents of things like Nativity scenes being removed from the town square, store clerks told they are not to say “Merry Christmas”, etc.…

I see a lot of reactions and responses to society’s attempt for an androgynous holiday season. We all see them: the posts on social media that declare stuff like: “Like this post if you say Merry Christmas”; and of course, the ubiquitous “Jesus is the reason for the season” signs, pins, banners and stickers.

But then there are the folks that are, in my opinion, a little, um.. “Overzealous”. Well-meaning Christians who appear to be so offended by the government’s removal of God that they get downright militant in their response and reactions. Have you ever seen a social media post that says something like: “Like this post if you believe in the constitution and say Merry Christmas to every store clerk, or just keep scrolling if you are happy to be going to hell in a handbasket”. Or, my all-time favorites that conveys the message: “Kids are bullying other kids into a suicidal mindset because we removed God from schools. Like if you want prayer back in schools”.

I usually just keep on scrolling and take my chances that I won’t really go to hell in that handbasket. But I want to take this opportunity to say my piece. You see, I do say Merry Christmas to everyone I see, and once I say it, most store clerks say it right back to me. I also love the season and the Santa Claus, decorations and hustle and bustle—all while KNOWING that Jesus is indeed the reason for the season.

I am not at all worried that we are erasing God by not allowing a Nativity scene on government property. We do not live in a theocratic society, but live in what is probably as close to a democracy as it gets in this crazy world. It is my right to put a Nativity scene on my lawn, and I will defend my right (or yours) to do so always. We are all guaranteed freedom of religion. We can worship as we want and the government cannot stop us. Not any of us.  We ALL have freedom of religion.

So, while I am saddened by it, I’m not upset that Nativity sets and Ten Commandment plaques are removed from government property. As long as they are not allowing any symbolic representation of any religion.

I believe that when someone challenged the courts to remove prayer from public schools (in those days prayer was a normal part of the school day and led by the teachers), that God allowed it to come to pass in order to preserve the children of God from being subjected to prayer led by teachers of other faiths. You see, if teachers are permitted to lead prayer in public schools, then they would be able to lead ANY prayer that they see fit according to their beliefs. No, thank you! I will teach my children about Jesus and teach them to pray. I am not interested in anyone teaching them to pray to the air or wind or anything or one that suits the fancy of the teacher!

I am not concerned that God is being erased by society and/or the government. I am more concerned that He is being hidden, and the only ones that can do that are those that believe in Him and are supposed to be His light in this world. God has not been removed from the schools or from our society.  If you are raising your children to know Him and serve Him, then when they go to school, He is there.  His Word says that He is with us always.  We abide in Him, and He with us.  We are the carriers of His glory in this world.

What does the glory of God look like? It looks like the one who buys an extra cup of coffee and a meal for someone who is hungry. It looks like the nurse who sits in the emergency room with a woman who just found out she is now a widow, and holds her hand until her family arrives. It looks like the one who takes off their own coat to give it to a homeless person on the street, the one opens their home to someone who needs a place to stay. It looks like the changes seen in society not by posting things on social media, but by those prayer warriors who take up the cause on their knees, knowing that God hears them. And yes, it looks like a Nativity scene on the lawn, and the signs reminding us that Jesus really is the reason for the season. It sounds like a choir singing Silent Night and the greeting of Merry Christmas.

No, society cannot erase God—not if we don’t let it.  Reach out to the un-lovely among us; get involved and volunteer somewhere. Run for office and be an honest, forthright, praying politician! Most of all, be obedient to the Word that says in 2Chr. 7:14:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

This season I challenge you not to just think about what to give thanks for, but who you give thanks to. Declare “Merry Christmas” to everyone you can, and while you’re at it, add “and may God bless you!”

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, and may the Lord abundantly bless you and keep you. May He bless you with a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Erasing God by Barbara

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)

Thanksgiving is a day to spend with family and friends giving thanks to God for all He has done for us. The following day, many are shopping to seize the best deal. Though the day is crazy, at least it was the day after Thanksgiving. Stores are now opening on Thanksgiving day. Retail employees must work instead of spending the day with family. Some are out shopping on Thanksgiving to get that hard to find gift or save a bundle. I suppose we can say the stores that open are greedy but it is the enemy who is behind it. He wants nothing more than to tear down the family unit. Some stores are closing on Thanksgiving day, stating, “this is a day to spend with family and the shopping can wait till Friday.” I applaud them. I understand there are folks who must work, such as medical personnel, police officers, firemen, pilots etc. Thanks to all of them!

It is generally during the Christmas season when we encounter particular individuals who want to erase all aspects of God from our country. More and more of our religious freedoms are being taken away. Nativity scenes displayed at public places have become a thing of the past. There are battles as Christmas banners displayed mention Jesus. If our kids and grandkids go to public schools, you are not going to hear any songs about the real reason for Christmas such as Silent Night, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Oh Holy Night, etc. at their Christmas program. Prayer has been out of school for years. In schools and other establishments, one could lose their job for praying. Everywhere, we see groups or individuals doing their best to erase God.

It made me question, what happened that they detest God so much they want to erase all aspects of Him? Could it be these people are acting out of a place of pain, hurt, disappointment and are blaming God? In some cases might they feel that no loving God could cause the pain that transpired in their life so He must not exist? If so, they are deceived. They brought into a lie that the enemy has fed them. What they don’t comprehend is that we live in a fallen world because of the sin of Adam BUT Jesus set us free. He can heal all that hurt and pain. He came that they would have life and have it more abundantly.

This does not imply when facing the battles, we become passive and do nothing. There are issues in life that need confrontation and discipline BUT we need to see people the way that God sees them. God is not just about love He is love. I believe when He looks at a person, He sees what He intended that person to be. He does not see the faults but he sees the destiny He planned for them. Think about the most evil person you know and realize Jesus died for them too.

So as Christian what can we do? Our biggest weapon against these issues is prayer. We can’t expect the Lord to move if we are not bringing it to Him. Pray not for victory but pray from the victory. Pray the solution not the problem. Proverbs 18:21 tells us, “the tongue has the power of life and death.” Talking about Jesus and quoting scriptures will not change anyone’s mind. They need to see Jesus in us, Jesus working through us. In previous blogs I stated that some people get on my last nerve. In the last couple of months this is changing and I focus on seeing them through the eyes of Jesus, though that doesn’t mean I haven’t fallen short at times. I am praying for the boldness to approach anyone and ask if I can pray for them no matter what their demeanor. Imagine praying for someone that is doing their best to erase God and see them get healed. If nothing else it would surely give them a new perspective. If we as Christians walk in God’s love and power, who knows, the Christmas songs and prayer may be back in schools, nativity scenes and banners will be displayed again with no protests. Possibly, stores would close again Thanksgiving Day and families would be together, giving thanks to God.

Read the Bible verse at the top. Where it says “Love is patient” etc. Replace love with the Name of Jesus and read it again, and replace Jesus’ name with your name. This says who we were meant to be.

Here is a video of a man that truly walks in the love and power of God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7s9bRIB-wE His name is Todd White. He tells the story of having been invited to a school with a number of other guests to talk about their religion so the teens could make a choice. Todd didn’t talk religion or Jesus. He showed them Jesus and it transformed them. This is the way the Christian life should be lived and it is exciting.

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas! God Bless!

 

Erasing God by andrea

 I don’t think the problem is erasing God as much as it is taping over God. If you ever owned a tape and didn’t punch out the tabs, anyone could come along and rewrite over what you previously taped. So here we have God in our midst, the Christ has come we know for sure He is the way the Truth and the Light and we want with all our hearts to join together as one body, one heart, loving one another but we don’t know about punching out the tabs…. and we allow others to tape over what God gave us until we no longer remember the very real experience of our conversion. Instead we are given doctrine and someone else’s interpretation of scripture. We sit and hear someone else tell us what God says. Instead of learning to listen, to hear God for ourselves we are encouraged to not question the scriptures or the pastor.

      Then sometimes it’s our cultural views or the very important issues of the day that we allow to block our view of Christ. Even amongst Christians I often hear more about the Presidential candidates then I do about Jesus. Politics won’t fix us. Christ exists within all types of governments, we weren’t sent to change governments. We were sent to change hearts. Ultimately, when enough hearts are changed, that is reflected in the culture.

(I left this here for a few days)

….and then Paris. I have wondered so often about what humanity thinks will change hearts and minds. I know Christ changed mine, I believe He is waiting to change those caught in Islam. The terrible truth is, they haven’t erased God, they have written over Him. Called Him another name, written another book… made up another doctrine. Jesus isn’t the Book, He isn’t the doctrine, He is God. We nailed Him to a cross, we killed the King of Glory and yet He lives. He never forced himself on anyone, He never forced the religious leaders to change their ways. He only offered His truth, He offered Himself, a living sacrifice to change our hearts and minds. He still does…

       The awful truth is… the mortality rate is 100%. We will all die. We have a choice while there is time, to choose love or hate, life or death. I choose to follow the God that loves. He loves Paris, Beijing. Washington D.C. He also loves Jerusalem and Baghdad. It doesn’t matter if you have the red, white and blue flag or the black, green, white and red flag… He died for us all. Suffered for us all. So my prayer is that the Lord raise up powerful, loving missionaries that will go into the lion’s den and preach Christ. Because after all, the mortality rate is still 100%. We may as well die for something worth while.

      We will never erase God, I see people turn their heads and pretend they don’t know He exists but we all know. Faith is a choice, it is also a gift. It must be received. Take it, its yours. As we all grieve for Paris and for the Middle East, I still choose to have hope, that the long ugliness will allow the beauty of Christ to shine through to those who need Him more now then ever before. As the one widower said, he will never allow hatred or fear to tape over the love planted in his heart. Powerful message from someone with all the reason in the world to hate except he knows only love wins.

      Be comforted, knowing the Lord is still on His throne and He is merciful, loving and worthy. God Bless, andrea

Erasing God by Ronda

Take a moment and think about your last trip to your closest department, drug or dollar store. If you are like me you probably just ran in to pick up a few things to complete the week’s lunch or dinner menu and what do you find? Well before we get into the response, let me ask another question during this special time of year…tis the season but what exactly is it the season for? In most stores I frequent, you really can’t tell what season it is. I am always shopping last minute for Thanksgiving items like festive napkins or may be some seasonal side dish; only to find those items delegated to the very end of the clearance aisle after I have walked past all the Christmas décor. This is the world we live in.

 

I used to be one of those who enjoyed the Black Friday shopping sales. I would go out in the dark to hit my favorite stores just because I enjoyed the “tradition” of it. It was the marking of the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. I wouldn’t go “hog- wild” or anything. I wouldn’t even try to come close to completing my Christmas shopping. I just liked to snatch up those few great deals that seemed worth the trip. Well, I gave up my shopping tradition a few years ago when shop turned violent and people were getting shot. Most recently, the “Black Friday” shopping has turned into early bird Thanksgiving Thursday and that was what sealed the deal. So back to my original question: what season is it anyway?

 

In our secular and commercialized culture, it isn’t easy to determine the answer. More importantly, as a believer should I be expecting to find some exact marked delineation? I don’t think so. Although, there may have been a time when our culture actually embraced the biblical meaning of Christian celebrations, I don’t think we should be surprised by the changes that we currently see. Many of our celebrations have symbols of paganism that don’t really reflect biblical context, so where does the responsibility lie when it comes to maintaining a biblical perspective. I would argue, the responsibility is ours as believers. We can’t look to a secular society and expect that we will find a true expression of our faith or our God. Scripture says the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, neither can he know them. (I Cor. 2:14) We should be more introspective and look at how our own lives contribute to the problem. I started with not participating in the “Black Friday” shopping. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, however I do believe we ought to have conviction.

 

If we look to biblical context we will find that God has always wanted a people separated and consecrated to Him. A people set apart in the midst of cultures that were pagan and serving other gods – in the world but not of the world. The same could be said for today. In the midst of a society that has commercialized our Christian holidays, what can we do to restore our true biblical heritage back to our celebrations?   I am not sure I know the answer but I think a lot of it has to do with us not getting “caught up” in traditions that don’t reflect our faith authentically. Now, this is coming from someone who absolutely enjoys putting up our Christmas tree and decorations. It is a family tradition for us to have hot cocoa, a yummy sweet snack and sing Christmas carols! I am just sharing what this topic of “erasing God” provoked in my own consciousness. If you have read any of my other posts, then you know that I have been studying a lot about the Hebraic Roots movement. There is so much to be learned about our Christian roots and these topics are directly related to our holidays (supposedly holy days). I don’t want to get into a debate about it, but it is something to ponder. It is interesting to examine how much of our traditional holiday symbols are actually rooted in pagan culture and not true biblical celebrations. I don’t have a concrete solution to this problem. But it is definitely food for thought.

 

As a family, we have never acknowledged Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, but we do celebrate our holidays traditionally. As I learn more about Hebraic Roots, I will have to wrestle with the truth that is speaking to my own heart as I think we all must do. Needless to say, I am not expecting to “see” God expressed in a culture that is counter to His kingdom. I hope that as I walk through these seasons someone sees God in me and in His people by the manner in which we honor who He is in our lives. I pray that my family celebration is one that doesn’t blend in with the spirit of the world but rather testifies to a message of truth, by the Spirit of Truth.

 

So as we celebrate however we celebrate I pray that the God’s Spirit will lead and guide us to be a living witness to the truth that we believe. God is with us. He came as Emmanuel. He lives with us now as Holy Spirit. In the time to come, Christ will return and reign then at the appointed time God, as His Shekinah Presence will be with us all.

 

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

 

In all things give thanks…for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. II Thessalonians 5:19