Change

Have you ever heard, "the world is changing and religion must change along with it"? How about, "the Bible is V not relevant today; it's teachings are passe and outdated." I guess we've all heard these, or a form of them.

Some things have indeed changed in our world. The ongoing "war on ­ism" has caused me to think how much more efficient and sophisticated our war machines are than in previous wars. Our household tasks, and just about every other job, has been made easier by modern technology. Strides have been made in the field of medicine, science, and others. And yes - "church creeds" have changed!

But people have not changed. There are some who are just as greedy as Lot ever was (Gen. 13). Diotrephes didn't have a thing on some today who "love to have the preeminence. " Judas must have been the pattern of some when it comes to the love of money. And the same s that were in the Bible are still here.

But there are some things that never change, nor will they ever, and these are the principles of good and morality that God has already laid down to govern mankind in the society in which he lives. Christ still possesses all authority, regardless of what men may think (Matt. 28:18).

God's laws are unalterable; his word continues (l Pet. 1:23). It teaches the same thing now that it did 2,000 years ago. Man will still be condemned when he tampers with it, and he will be saved when he obeys it. This has ever been so.

God's conditions of salvation never change. If a man wants to become a Christian and go to heaven when he dies, he still must repent of his sins and be baptized into Christ, the teaching of modern religionists notwithstanding. The fact that Billy Graham or some other famous preacher may say, "just accept Christ as your Savior" does not change one thing.

God's attitude toward sin has not changed. Sin is still sin, and all the ra­tionalizing and attempts at mitigating it will not make any difference. Things such as ery, homosexuality, lying; ad nauseam are still sin and will have to be accounted for. All the rantings and ravings of wild-eyed mobs running rampant in the streets will not change that fact.

God's attitude toward false religious teaching has not changed. It does not make any difference if those fallacies are taught by some denominations or by one of the brethren. Jesus pointed out that the false religious systems of his day would be "rooted up" (Matt. 15:13). What makes us think it will be any dif­ferent today?

God's attitude toward man has not changed. He has always loved man, and wants to save him. All the sin a man may commit will not change that. But just because God loves one does not mean that such a one is in a saved con­dition. Man is called upon to learn one simple fact, and that is, if he would be saved and live the proper sort of life, it is going to have to be on God's terms and not man’s.

Change?? Yes, some things have. But the things that related to man's salvation and the best life while he lives upon this earth have not changed. God and his word are eternal! - Bill Moseley

 

 

 

Plane rides are boring to me. I was once determined that the one ahead of me was not going to be so. Living in Sacramento, CA at the time, and got on a plane, seated myself for my first hop to Denver. A little lady shows up, accusing me of having her seat. But she had a sense of humor, pro­posing to sit on my lap. Told her my wife probably wouldn't like that, so I suggested that I sit on her lap! That got a big laugh from the other passengers! We found she was wrong and I was right (for once) - and so we got off to a good start.

Got ready to take off from Denver, but there was something missing - the pilot and his buddy, which delayed us for an hour. Seems they were coming in on an­other flight and had gotten held up in some way. Nothing more boring than sit­ting on the tarmac for an hour. So I thought I would liven things up, and did so by offering to fly us myself, which was immediately vetoed by the rest of the pas­sengers - can't imagine why!

Finally got going on my way to El Paso, Texas where my meeting was. Ran into a king sized storm. Found out later it was bad enough that no planes were allowed to take off - then I wondered why we got to land! Makes you wonder how much fuel we had left!

Typical plane ride - but always something to do if you look for it. Life does not have to be dull - there's generally a humorous side if we look for it. But always glad to get home again. - Bill Moseley