RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY

                                  Christian faith and religious tolerance

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction” by Blaise Pascal

              In recent days the issue of religious tolerance and diversity has been playing centre stage on most affairs of our time. For example: On national day prayer meetings and worship services, political leaders and dignitaries gather in worship and prayers and representatives of various religion  assigned to lead in prayers in  tailored sequence. This also happened after 9/11. The new religious America demands new paradigm regarding the expression of faith. In the name of diversity of religion, there is a fresh call for tolerance and ecumenism. Emphasis here is that all gods are to be treated equal. Such worship upholds God but excludes Jesus Christ. No one cares to ask- which God? The concept here is that all religion led to the same God. How true is that? The only-way-Jesus does not fit into this new religious order. Whatever tradition that appears to express supremacy over another is excluded. Whatever pre-eminence Jesus holds over other gods is stripped and denied, just to “get along” with the plurality of gods and alternative faith; or-else  named intolerance and insensitive.

          If you could pause and ask, “Why do the coalitions of other religion conspire to exclude the name Jesus? Is it just to push Him out of the track or to discredit his supremacy and bring all to a level ground? Can Jesus really be denied of what he paid for with His blood? I just doubt. It’s not about what the coalition of other religion agree to do or not to do. It’s about what God had predestined and His answer or solution to man’s problem of sin. Joseph M. Stowell, author of: ‘The trouble with Jesus’ wrote, “Jesus is exclusive in His claim that He’s the only solution for man’s sin problem and the only way to God. And that indeed He is God. Jesus is the central issue that separates Christianity from Hindus, Muslim, Jews, New age adherents and advocates of any other form of religion. His claim is unique.” He said, “I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE: no man cometh to the Father but by Me [John 14:6]. Of course no other religious leader made such claim.  Luke, the Physician reaffirmed, “There’s no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved [Acts 4:12]. Anne Graham Lotz was quoted to have put it juicy on Moody broadcasting’s National Program – OPEN LINE: “Jesus is the only way, but He’s not exclusive. He welcomes all to His offer of eternal life. No one is excluded at the cross.” [Heb.2:9b].  Indeed, this is awesome.

               The scriptures recognize that many gods exist. The first commandment warns, “You shall have no other gods before Me” [Exodus 20:3].This is no suggestion but a commandment. Apostle Paul reiterated, “Even though there be so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth called gods and lords, yet there is for us only one God, the Father who is the creator of all things and for whom we live, and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live.” He further urged Christians “to flee from idolatry.”[I Corth.8:5-6; 10:14].

            Among all religious leaders, Jesus Christ is the only one who had a permanent solution to man’s moral problem. He died on the cross and defeated death through His resurrection. We can stake our faith on a number of things, but we believe that the Resurrection is the best place; the Resurrection is our sign and hope. This event has an exceptionally well documented historical fact. To attempt to equate Jesus with other gods is considered world’s wisdom and vileness. Jesus is not in any competition or claims equality with, but rather He’s distinct from and above all other gods. Through the resurrection He was undeniably affirmed as Lord and God [John 20:28; Acts 2:36].

The problem of downsizing the God of the bible to equal other gods is not new. Both the prophets of old and New Testament disciples faced this odd. Moses warmed the children of Israel to decease from religious diversity. Prophet Isaiah revealed there’s none like Him among all gods. Prophet Elijah at Mount Carmel proved the same truth when he confronted the Baal worshippers: “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him [1Kings 18:21]. The rest is now history. To the Colossians, Paul declared: “Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God ….through Him and for Him God created everything visible and invisible…; holds all creation together. Christ is the head of the Church. He’s the first of all those who will rise from dead. The invisible God live in Christ and by Him reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth, through His blood on the cross” [Col.1:15-20]. These valid credentials testify to the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

           Christians are “called out people” from the crowd to proclaim the new life in Christ. Neither interfaith worship service nor secularization of religion shall diminish Christians’ claim that Jesus is Lord and Messiah. On a positive note, interfaith worship offers Jesus’ servants’ rare privilege to reveal the mysteries of God’s grace in times of unexpected crises and fear, as uncertainty overshadows hope. The Messiah is sought to restore hope and comfort. It occasioned God’s work to triumph in the midst of calamities and paganism.  Paganism describes “a society that embraces a wide-open spirituality, with a multiplicity of gods and no central moral authority.”

Today, some people are mad when a Christian declares that Jesus is the only way or prays in Jesus name. They’re quick to describe Christians as intolerant and insensitive. But it was the magnanimity of the Christian foundation that gave other religion freedom and liberty to practice their belief.  “The American democratic system did not spring from Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto or Moslem traditions. Christian ideals and doctrines offer the environment supportive of freedom of speech and religion among others. The bible, not the Koran, Vedas, Tripitika or other so-called holy books, is the source of the nation’s philosophy on the value of mankind and how they treat one another and be governed.” This is the height of religious tolerance. Today, this moral code book –the Holy Bible, is no longer tolerated in public places. Christian prayers, Bible studies and Jesus name had been kicked out of schools by those who had hugely benefited from them. 

      The painful irony is that Christians do not frown at people of other religion for upholding their confession. We believe that our confession is true and the centrality of our faith; so we keep it clear and strong.  Tolerance is not to compromise the truth or equate every idea/ claim. We must proclaim your faith, for most people by huge margin come to Christ through the witness of another person. Jesus assures, all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth; go invest yourself in others, who in turn will do the same. As many as adhere, He promise His presence always, even to the end of age.

.   “We are living in a time where sensitivities are at the surface. You can practice anything as long as you do not claim that one is a better way. You can hold anything as long as you do not proclaim Jesus Christ publicly, it’s right.” Our confession: Jesus is the only WAY; the TRUTH AND LIFE as well as LORD and GOD stand firm. “To say every religion is true is to say that no religion is true. This is neither intolerance nor insensitive but the truth. “If early Christians endured martyrdom, would we not endure unpopularity?”                    

 Reach: Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill at: weefreeministries@yahoo.com or Box 720035, Houston, Texas, 77272.

EXAMINE YOUR THOUGHT

Many people wish to succeed in life but doubt their ability to do so and end up believing they can’t make it. That’s how wishes differ from belief. The bible hit the nail of the truth, on the head when it said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” [Proverbs 23:7]. You become what you think most; your success or failure in anything, large or small depends on what you accept from others and what you say to yourself. The brain simply records, plays back and eventually believes what you tell it most. Also what adults tell us as children have incredible important effect on us; it forms what we believe about most of what happens around us and almost everything that we come to believe about ourselves. When you ‘think,’ you are spreading out your mental wares [what’s in your mind] and taking inventory of it. I want to believe that it was to fully illustrate the power of thought that Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians saying, ‘Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God’[Philippians 2:5].

Most times we are told as kids, ‘you are stupid’ or ‘you can’t make it’ or madly ‘you never do well’. Be careful what you tell a child. It can stick. If the person it’s said to accept such negative talk, it shall occupy his thought and stay put in his mind. He begins to believe and dwell on such negative talk. It can determine a lifetime attitude. Attitude determines and controls our destiny. We are responsible for our attitudes. We choose our feelings, our actions and our attitude. We color our lives with the thoughts we think. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: ‘Be transformed by the renewal of your mind’[Romans 12:2], he understood that the mind runs twenty-four hours a day; no matter how we live, work, play or sleep, our minds are  working. Our thoughts occupy ninety-three percent of our lives. The color of our thoughts colors our lives. Our attitudes are function of our faith; faith means to put our full weights on the faithfulness of God or doing something because God commands us to do it.

Our thoughts form our belief, get our attention and demand our response. Daily we receive an endless stream of commands, directions, controls, inducements and expectations from others; everything around us nudges demands and persuades. “We do like ships with countless captains, all-seeking to direct us on their own courses, for their own purposes, not even knowing they are leading our ship astray”. As long as a person allows others to program him, he is without doubt out of control and captive of the whims of some unknown destiny. All these help to form one’s belief. Little wonder why Bill Cosby said, ‘I don’t know the key to success but the key to failure is trying to please everybody’. Our experiences and our acceptance of what we’ve heard from others, what our parents or guardians told us and what we have told ourselves from childhood, form the basis of our attitude and behavior today. That’s where fears, trauma, or self identity first began to take hold.

Today what we hear and see from the news media informs us and impacts our behavior. Perhaps that explains why the market giants invest heavily on advertisement campaign [radio and TV commercials] to pervade the values of consumers and influence their attitude to buy or accept whatever junks they put out. This in a way misguides and appears to determine who people think they are and what class they claim to belong. This tricks and influences the public to be part of consumerism [persuaded to consume, not their needs, but to meet the corporate goal and needs of the productive process].

                                                                          /2

Patrick Morley in his book, “The man in the mirror” quoted Ted Koppel, an ABC’s nightline anchorman 1987 address at DukeUniversity who said, “We have reconstructed the Tower of Babel and it is a television antenna, a thousand voices producing a daily parody of democracy in which everyone’s opinion is afforded equal weight regardless of substance or merit. Indeed, it can even be argued that opinions of real weight tend to sink with barely a trace in television’s ocean of banalities”. He for-warned, we need to guard our minds more carefully, because so many kooky ideas are floating around. Through the news media our unconscious minds are exposed to subliminal suggestion and seduction. While the conscious mind discriminates, decides, resists or accepts, the unconscious apparently merely store information which in a way influences attitudes or behavior at the conscious level in ways which science know little or virtually nothing about. We can somehow evaluate and decide what we do with our conscious mind but our unconscious mind is vulnerable to most media seduction. No greater influence imparts our thinking than the media. That explains how we want and buy things we do not need.

Whatever you believe about yourself will end up affecting what you do. We all have numerous big and small beliefs about ourselves; some are true while others are false, but our minds will act as if there are true if we believe them. Our beliefs are not accidents of nature, there are created and directed by ourselves, reinforced and easily cemented in our minds. Shad Helmstetter author of ‘What to say when you talk to your self’ wrote,

‘What we believe determines our attitudes, attitude create feelings, while feelings determines behavior [actions] resulting to success or failure’. Good thoughts bear good

fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit. Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad result; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.

PART 2

Doubt is a negative thought; it cripples initiatives, cramps energy and marshal out excuses to support its disbelief. Thoughts of fears, doubts and indecision crystallize into weakness of the mind and irresolute habits, which results to failure, indulgence and slavish dependence. Lazy thoughts create dishonesty and could result into beggary and stealing. On the contrary, faith creates positive attitude capable of destroying doubts and disbeliefs. However a man is the master of thought, the molder of character and the maker and shaper of condition, environment and destiny. Circumstances do not make a man; it reveals him to himself. William James taught that the greatest discovery of his era was that people can alter their lives by altering their attitudes. When you entertain negative thoughts about your ability, you invite destruction and feelings of inferiority. The brain is competent to help you cancel negative thoughts. You could cancel it with positive thoughts and with the knowledge of Christ’ unconditional love for you.

All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. The Los Angeles Times published a five year study of University of Chicago which focused on 120 of America’s top artists, athletes and scholars. These successful people did not succeed mostly because of their talents but extraordinary drive, determination and commitment.  It will surprise you to find out that the meanest things that we say, we say it to ourselves. The good news is that we can change it. We have inward strength to change it if we choose to. You can cancel the negatives in your mind. God desires to give us a second opinion.

                                                                          /3

Dr. Karl Menninger of Minninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, was quoted as saying, that when you begin to see what you can become your problems are mostly over.  You can not get well as long as the shackles of defeat trap you. Change begins at the place where you begin to dream holy dreams about what you can become. Life is shaped either by our dreams or by our problems. Do not be a prisoner of your past, for doing that denies the power of God’s Spirit in you and most importantly denies the power of Jesus’ resurrection and forgiveness of sin.

A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own and not another man’s; these are brought about by him and can only be altered by him. As a man continue to think, so he behaves and remains; he may not directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and hold his beliefs, thereby shapes his circumstances. The life you live depends on the thought you hold.  Until a man straightens out his thought, by boldly demolishing strongholds, arguments and every pretension that sets themselves against the knowledge of the Word of God; bringing every thought into captivity to make them obedient to Christ, he is control by ‘the old man’[1Corth.10:5; Rom.7:23]. You can begin to fill your mind with affirmations from God’s words and promises [Heb.3:12; Pro.12:5, 15:26]. These deserve your constant reflections and are a constant source of strength. God is present always sees and understands the battles in your mind; is able to change your thoughts and protect you from negative thoughts. You can’t leave your door open and unsecured and expect to protect your house from burglary and robbery. The great Swiss Reformer and theologian, Karl Barth wrote, ‘Communion with God is not a dash into security but a walk toward reality’.

One may wish to be well, prays for good health and prosperity but if his thought negates it, it shall not manifest in him, even when God has answered his prayers. That explains why some say they love but behaves hate. Again God may have healed you, but if you

Continue to think sick, you will act sick; that’s a manifestation of your thought. An African adage says, it’s not the wound that you have that causes great pains but your attitude towards the wound. That also explains why some people just refuse to grow up even when all the indices surrounding them have changed suggesting wellness and maturity; they still behave like over- grown babies. This is how some Christian folks act despite their many years in the Church; they keep drinking infant milk and do not aspire to eating solid food of their faith [Heb.5:13-14]. Human beings are anxious to improve their circumstances but reluctant or unwilling to improve themselves.

James Allen, author of ‘As a man thinketh’ said, law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe; justice not injustice is the soul and substance of life; and righteousness not corruption is the molding and moving force in the Spiritual government of the world. This being so, man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right; he will discover that as he changes his thoughts towards things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.”  If you nurse in your mind that the world and its people hate you, you begin to behave unfairly and funny to people and things around you. You hiss, grumble, read bias meaning into people’s actions and behave aggressively showing other signs of un-wellness.

However, when a man changes his thought and begins to find and adopt to the right and hidden justice which regulates his life, he ceases to accuse others or kick against circumstances, as being responsible for his actions and circumstances but builds himself

                                                                   /4

up in strong and noble thoughts. He sees his circumstances as a means of discovering the hidden strengths and possibilities in himself. We are quick to blame other people, economy, society, culture and other institutions for the prevailing conditions we are passing through but not ourselves.

PART 3                                                          

We have a popular belief in Christianity, that the Spirit determines what happens to the physical. That invariably means that the body is subjects to the Spirit, soul or mind. The body obeys the dictation of the mind, whether freely chosen or automatically expressed. The body sinks into decease and decay if the mind thinks sick and failure. Sickly thoughts will produce sickly body. Impure thoughts could generate into nervous illness while pure and loving thoughts build up happy life and behavior. Out of clean heart comes edifying words, happiness, peace of mind, and healthy body; out of defiled or polluted mind proceeds hatred, malice, grudges, lusts, greed and filthy body and habits. This explains why Christians are urged to constantly guard their minds, renew their minds, purge their thoughts and perfect their bodies. The Lord searches all hearts and understands the imaginations of our thoughts [1 Chronicle 28:9; Psalms 94:11].

The enemy understands how powerful the mind set is in our lives and chooses it as a battle ground. A television Bible Teacher, Pastor Joyce Meyer writing on ‘the battlefield of the mind’ said, you cannot have a positive life and a negative mind. She went further to say, ‘your life may be in a chaos because of many years of wrong thinking. If so, it is

important for you to come to grips with the fact that your life will not get straightened out until your mind does.  You should consider this area vital necessity. Be serious about

tearing down the stronghold Satan has built in your mind. Use your weapon of the Word, praise and prayers.’  We have no excuse to remain in bondage when Jesus died to set captives free [Luke 4:18-19]. Satan takes our circumstances to build stronghold in our lives and wages war in the battlefield of the mind. But thank God, in Jesus Christ for the victory of the cross. He has provided weapon to tear down Satan’s stronghold. God does not abandon us or leave us helpless, or allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear but He’s present in all situations and has provided a way out – an escape[1Corth.10:13]. God is our Rock and Fortress, our Deliverer and Redeemer, Our Refuge, our Shield and Helper even in times of trouble [Psalm18:2; 46:1].

We are called to examine out thoughts and not to pretend; we should stop the hide and seek games. We hide our feelings, our emotions, and our real thoughts from one another but easily forget we can’t hide from God. Yet we want someone to find us out and rescue us. We hide behind our affluence, our work, our leisure and our business. How can you expect your Physician to help you except you tell him what your hurts are? God is omni-present but still require you to tell Him your needs.  He sees you even when you close the doors of your heart, say one thing and do another. God expects us to be truthful, opened and honest to Him and one another. Many of us proclaim to be Christ-like and soldiers of Christ in the Church but act differently outside. We live in intimidation, hatred and in anxiety and fears; some are even afraid to reach out to God.

 Listen up people, God is already reaching out to us; He expects us to respond. He has given us the power to do just that. We can change our minds; we can make a difference. Everyone has the knowledge, the will and the emotion as part of his/her psyche. You can decide to do something different with your life, if you accept that what you are doing is

                                                                         /5

not right. It requires a personal decision. Just halt where you are, reflect on your past; being sorry for your past misdeeds and make a ‘U’ turn asking God’s grace in your life. It may surprise you that the Lord of all is awaiting your return. He waits to receive you back and in His mercies restore you with your rights and privileges as a child of God [John1:12; 1Pt.1:3, 4]. You begin by adopting new set of values centered on the teachings of Jesus Christ. God’s grace gives you the enable-ness to start all over again. That’s the beauty of repentance. Your journey from despair to hope starts with repentance. This is the total of what Christ had done for us on the cross. He came into the world, lived, suffered and died for our sins; promised to remember them no more and granted us life everlasting [John3:16; Romans 10:9-10]. If you have just done that, it’s amazing to know that you have acquired a new degree B.A., a new start, a new beginning; you have been born again. Then get involved in a bible teaching Church. Start with worship and prayers, study the bible, meditate on it and practice it; live a life worth of your repentance and be involved in the Lord’s service and witnessing.

Thereafter as you begin to live according to your confession, a lifestyle worthy of repentance, your actions will have to complement your repentance. Daily by the power of the Holy Spirit, you can act by faith, accept the love of Jesus Christ and maintain a close walk with your God. You must cease from living according to your past but begin to live according to your destiny. You must stand up and walk up to the battle line of victory, in every area of your life, if you are willing to go through it with Jesus Christ. Satan knows that if he can control our thoughts, then he can control our behavior. This he does by suggesting doubts and unbelief in God and His word to our minds. His strategy is always to divert our focus on God to himself or something-else. Do not at any time loose sight that there’s an on-going fierce war and the battlefield is your mind. This conflict does not end until one pass; it’s a product of our daily struggles in our faith journey. However, in case you fall, you can always rebound [1Jn1:9; 2:1-2; 2Pt2:9].

But the good news is that the battle is not ours; God is on our side, fighting for us. Jesus had conquered the world; given us power to overcome it because we are children of God and greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world[Rom.8:37;1Jn4:4b;5:4-5]. Like Apostle Paul wrote, ‘I can do all things through Christ [not by his own power] who strengthens me’ and ‘God renews and replenishes our inner minds every day, even though our outer bodies waste away’[2 Corth.4:16]. Above all, God can do all things and nothing is impossible with Him. If God be for us who can be against us? Yet in all things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us [Rom.8:31, 37]. Let us therefore examine our lives, our ways and our thoughts and test them; we will find out individually, why we think, say and act the way we do. The life which is unexamined is not worth living [Plato].

Evangelist  Ogbonnaya, G. could be reached by email:gkapin53@yahoo.com