Choosing to Deliberately Walk in Darkness

Choosing to Deliberately Walk in Darkness

11/7/12

Humans like to understand where they are going and how, when and at exact time that they will arrive at their destination.  All of us have this directional goal within our beings since it gives us a sense of security of knowing where we will be resting at day’s end.  But to what extent do we comprehend our destination and how we formulate where our destination actually terminates.  Most importantly who will be the one guiding us to this destination and how will we know if that person can be trusted?  Many people believe they have the answer for this but in truth they are basing their foundational destination to one who is faulty.

In a brief opening statement God intends to ruffle some feathers with the subject of this topic.  The article is going to be deal strictly with religion and how religion is the foundational boundary that sets limits on a relationship with God.  There will be many examples that God has shown me that will support these words and they must be spoken so that those who really desire to have a relationship with God will understand what is about to come within our world.  This article is by no means a slap against religion in any way and the true essence of religion is a pure and holy sepulcher which has stood throughout the test of time, but God does not desire your religion or your theology, He only desires a relationship with you.  And for you to completely understand what is going to occur in our world, you must understand this difference between religion and relationship.

In the origins of this country and for many other countries throughout the world God was one of the foundational beliefs that was present.  As we read history it has become very clear that these foundational situations have created many problems with humanity and rightly so.  The concepts of these “Godly” settings have all been based upon religion and the establishment of the true religion for man.  And as we have noticed each one of these situations has turned out in a tragic fashion and should therefore be an example of what not to do.  Yet we humans still flock to our own religion as a means of satisfying our “need” for peace and acceptance, and how further from the truth can we be when we allow this belief to infiltrate our spirits.

From the early dynasties of Egypt it has been clear that man has tried to create an avenue to God by means of worship.  The ancient Egyptians found many animals, symbols, buildings and models to set above all other items in their physical world and eventually they set one man in this same position as a living and earthly representative of their godly world.  We are still finding new evidence of these examples from that time period and all of them tie to the afterworld or to a process that will lead the person to immortal status.  Most of us have looked at pictures of their tombs and marveled at all of the items that were included inside the walls; all of these items representing things that would help these people in the afterlife.  These people were spiritually dead to the one true God and alive to all of the so-called lesser gods.  What did they gain but a walk into a darkness in which the same concept still grips society today.  This is an example of one trying to elevate himself to a higher status other than being human.

Another example of religion taking center stage in the formation of a country is England.  I have mentioned this situation once before in my writings and not much will be different here than what was said back then.  An entire religion was created to make way for a decision that one person wished for his life.  The established denomination at the time refused to grant his desire so out of anger he established a new religion in which he was the ultimate authority and could do and say as he wished.  Many homes and churches were ultimately destroyed in the name of the new religion and consequently many good people died as a result.  In an ironic twist when the former established denomination came back into play in that same country, the rule of punishment did not change but followed suit as the new religion had established.

In another part of Europe another man decided he did not like the way that the established denomination was doing things.  Yes, there were dire conditions that the denomination was creating for the people and some of these conditions were preposterous to their constituents and should have never been made a standard of the church.  Another split or crack in the church occurred due to the errors that man had committed were now present and had to be dealt with by the public.  The revelation or revolution that this person created was actually in truth a rebellion of a rebellion which is now known to us as Protestantism.  I understand that there were many points to the creation of this denomination but most of them dealt directly with one person in whom others had distrust.

A Biblical example comes next and it deals with Israel and their desire to have a king.  For hundreds of years God had been the one ruler over this nation and He spoke through a few people during this time.  Now, the people in the Bible were humans just like you and I.  They had every type of body part that we do, they had minds, hearts, arms, and legs nothing differed about them.  They even knew how to complain about their living conditions and they too also had the freedom to chose when it came to their lives. 

At one point in time they had no problems with having God ruling over their lives.  They must have accepted His ways in such a manner of complete devotion and reaping the benefits of a desired pattern of life even though they knew that their lives did not and could not set any type of honor and holiness to their God.  The humility that they kept within their hearts was enough to suffice a God that they knew could destroy them at any point of time for being a representative of their inadequate and unpleasant flesh.

But at some point, doubts began to come forth in their minds and they began to speak against their conditions and they eventually forgot that they were blessed even though they had become unhappy with their surroundings.  Their grips and complaints became increasingly burdensome to their leaders and when these chosen men directed these concerns to God, He obliged their requests and then allowed some changes to occur so that peace could reign within the nation.  But being of the human race, the new ideas and conditions did not satisfy these people and in a short matter of time their complaints rose up again and this time they were more direct in their accusations.  See, it has always been a human trait to do something and then some time down the road do something greater.

Even though God was displeased with their cries against their living conditions He once again provided them an alternative and supplied them with a grace of gifts which should have sustained them.  However, being human they could not be satisfied with these alternatives and began their complaints again, but this time God decided to draw a line in the sand so to speak and He gave the people a gentle nudge of an example and as Keith Green sang “the ground opened up and had some of them for lunch”.  Now, whether you believe this example of not is up to you but even if you don’t it should get you to think about some things, mainly that you should never complain about your living conditions or the supplies you have for one day you might not have any.

Time went along and the people remembered the ground incident but continued their grumblings against God and His representatives.  Now, we all know that God’s representatives were human and probably did not do things right the first time, this we must contend.  But at the same time the people had shifted their grumblings towards God and what He was allowing to occur in their lives, yet at the same time, God allowed them to voice their opinions and to chose their own lives.

Shortly, the time came when the people realized that the representatives that God had chosen were just not working out with the people so they began to talk about having their own representative, a person who they could agree with and follow but still keep their ties to God for the time being.  Think about this for a moment, even though the Bible does not directly state this thought pattern it had to be a part of their thinking and is a logical process.  But what they failed to see is that their eyes were now focused upon a man and not God, even though they truly believed the opposite.  In short the people asked the Godly representatives for one person amongst them to represent them and be their leader.  The people now chose a king to be in charge of their daily lives, activities and decisions.  Once again God was displeased but allowed them to make this choice.

Our country was founded upon some Biblical principles and some secular principles this is a known fact.  It is also a known fact that once the new people of this country gained ground in this country they began to set up Christian institutions that would allow them to worship as they saw fit, which was one of the main reasons that they left England.  However, it was not too further down the road that these people began to establish rules and regulations similar to those of England where the church was concerned.  In fact it came to the conclusion that if you were not part of a certain belief that you were not even a Christian at all.

Over time and as the country grew more denominations sprang up throughout the land and basically adopted the same hard line concepts as the previous denomination did after their arrival.  All of these religious people became obsessed with recruiting non believers to their flock and then when they did not see things in their manner, they persecuted them one by one until they either submitted or as history shows us these “heretics” were killed in the name of God.  I could go on and on about these types of examples but I am going to stop here and move on to the next point.

For well over two hundred years our country has tried to shape its rules and regulations in our own image and that is a choice that God allows.  In our fledgling years the leaders of this country sought to find a leader who would stand up for the principles of their forefathers but did not wish to name this person as “king”.  They also wanted a person in charge that would defend the country against all invaders of its infrastructure not just the ones that are convenient.  Yet, from that initial starting point of our country we have ignored this principle and have looked for a king all the while keeping God at bay.  Through the many examples of churches’ attitudes and policies along with the personal actions of its members, many people shy away or even ridicule the church because of this style of behavior and in many cases who can blame them.

This attitude has grown over the centuries and it has woven itself into our society from its roots in other parts of the world.  The entire world has become obsessed with finding the one person who has all of the answers to the problems of today.  Each country believes it has found that person to do the job but each and every time that person has proven to be false and has provided nothing but disappointment to their constituents.  We have failed to recognize the one true being that has all of the correct answers for our lives and the one true person who can provide the only stability that man desires.  Our eyes are focused upon our own species for the answers and all we can do is make more people angry.

All of these examples have one thing in common, man being the center of attention.  There is no question that in the past countries that have declared themselves to be Christian have been blessed by God even during times of disease, poverty and war.  Yet all of them have lost their vision and have turned their eyes upon themselves.  In every one of these examples when man chooses to make his decisions with human ideologies, it is man who eventually pays the price.  In each of these examples good leaders came and went and in the same manner bad leaders came and went, but just as all others it was the fellow citizens who paid the price.  And in each of these examples, each time they ignored the fact that all God wanted was for man to choose to have a relationship with Him and for them to toss their religion and theology out the window.

Choose your king and chose him to your best ability and greatest intent but know this that until you seek the eternal God and His ways you will bring nothing but disappointment and pain unto yourselves.  It is time for us to understand the difference between religion and relationship.  Remember that a religion can dream up anything that a human wants which will allow for us to walk in darkness, but a relationship is alive and active and cannot be dreamt about in any way.  God will wait for a time, so choose your King.

DLB