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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Peace,
Peace – Where's The Peace? A
Muslim man emailed me recently and asked me to comment on a YouTube
video by a former Catholic named Garry Miller.
We've emailed back and forth many times since. Miller
attempts to put doubt in the minds of Christians concerning Jesus and
the Bible in an attempt to lead them towards Islam.
It's amazing to me how many Catholics are turning to Islam these
days. It's a sign of the
times and a product of some bad theology.
If Miller can't convert you, he'll try to dismantle your Biblical
thinking sufficiently that you will accept Islam as a credible religion.
That's the way of the religious world these days.
It's unity and peace at any or all costs.
Although
I was frustrated hearing what Miller had to say, I found it interesting.
It helped me gain a clearer understanding of the trend towards
tolerance and unity in the world of religion these days.
The
Muslim man who emailed me always greeted me with the words "peace
be with you", as Muslims do. One
of Garry Miller's minor criticisms of Christianity is that Christians
never greet people outside of Christendom with words of peace, as
Muslims do. The inference is
that Muslims are a more peace seeking people than Christians.
That got me thinking about peace. I
don't consider saying "peace be with you" a big deal.
Christians understands that peace cannot be found apart from
Jesus. So why would I say
"peace be with you" to an unbeliever?
I'd rather say, "give your life to Jesus and peace will be
with you." Once an
unbeliever becomes my brother in Christ, then I can say as the apostle
Paul often said, "peace be to you, my brother."
Thinking
of peace reminds me of Jeremiah 6:14. It
reads, "peace, peace, when there is no peace."
Next to the word "love", the word "peace" is
an often used and misused word. The
hippies of the 1960's espoused the virtues of peace when in fact they
had no peace. I'm
also reminded of 1Thessalonians 5:3.
In reference to the end of this age Paul said, "when people
call out peace and safety, sudden destruction will come."
In today's political world, leaders are seeking peace among the
nations, even with nations who don't want peace.
If peace finally comes, watch out for the sudden destruction. Religious
leaders are seeking a similar peace among the various religions of the
world. Garry Miller is one
such leader. This sounds
nice, but for Christians, there is a major problem. The
modern multi-cultural and tolerance movements, both on an ethnic level
and religious level, are built on a premise of peace.
Adherents to these peace movements promote "peace at the
cost of conviction". Conviction
of what one believes as truth no longer matters.
It only gets in the way of peace.
It's all about tolerating one another.
Ironically, those who preach such peace and tolerance don't seem
to have a lot of tolerance for those of us who aren't so excited about
their brand of peace. In
Romans 14:19 Paul tells Christians to "make every effort to do what
leads to peace." That
being said, our attempt at making peace has limits.
The same apostle Paul states in Galatians 1:8 that those who
preach a gospel other than the gospel of Christ, should be
"eternally condemned". That
sure isn't peace at any cost. We
must never forsake Biblical truth in the pursuit of peace.
If we have to choose between peace at all cost or no peace, we
choose no peace. There is no
compromise for the Christian. Despite
popular opinions, Jesus told us that because of our association with
Him, division might come into our lives. (Matthew 10:34)
In
the mid 1970's one debate in Christian circles was over
"ecumenicalism", that is, the uniting of various church
denominations. The concern
for some of us was that this unity was a unity at any cost.
Like the apostle Paul, we maintained that such unity with
denominations that had forsaken such important Biblical truths as the
Deity of Christ was not acceptable.
It was not acceptable to us back then, and it is not acceptable
to us today. The
trend towards "ecumenicalism" has now moved from church
denominations to the union of world religions.
This has even been supported by the so-called Christian movement
known as the Emergent
The
Bible predicts the trend to a worldwide unified religion.
Babylon, as seen in the book of Revelation, is both a united world-wide
political system and a united world-wide
religious system. Both
systems are satanic and will fall at the end of this age.
Those
of us who have given our lives to Jesus should strive for peace the best
we can, but we cannot compromise the truths of
Scripture in the process. Can
I be a friend with a Muslim? I
sure can. I've got friends
who aren't Christians. Christians
shouldn't be so inclusive that we don't have non-Christian friends.
We just can't forsake Biblical truth to maintain a friendship.
Romans
5:1 says, "since we have been justified through faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ".
To borrow the title from a popular book, that's the
"inconvenient truth" as stated by the apostle Paul.
Let's never forget it.
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