PART 1
Link: [On CBS News/60 Minutes]
PART 2
Link: [On CBS News/60 Minutes]
No, there
is no questioning the depth of their devotion, but be assured that their faith
is misguided. For locking yourself away
in a monastery might be necessary if our Heavenly Father really was all that
hard to find, but He really isn’t. For
it is written: “I
revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did
not seek me. To a nation that did not
call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ All day long I have held out my hands to an
obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations.” [Isaiah 65:1-2 NIV]
It might
also be necessary to lock yourself away in a monastery if we really were
expected to purify ourselves of all wickedness in addition to accepting Christ
Jesus our own personal Lord and Savior, but we are not. For it is written: And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose. For those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also
justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to these
things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare his own
Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him,
graciously give us all things? Who will
bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.
Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the
right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face
death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither
the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:28-29 NIV]
Alas, far
too many have been led to believe that it is “all good” after one truly accepts
Christ Jesus as their own personal Lord and Savior, and it really is. The key, however, is whether or not He has
been truly accepted as our own personal Lord and Savior. For at that very moment, a very close and
personal relationship is established, which most certainly includes quite
frequent (if not almost constant) communication between the saved and their Savior, and this doesn't exist for far too many who sincerely believe that they are truly in Him.
No, it is
not the same for all. For it all depends
upon what our Heavenly Father wants to accomplish in and through someone that
determines when (and to what extent) He will allow and enable them to enter into His
absolute Truth, and in some cases, the scales will not be lifted from their
eyes until just before they take their very last breath in this world.
Nonetheless,
being kept in the dark (so to speak) should be of great concern to all who have
no idea what I have been given to say about this. For this is what truly seeking His face,
which is quite pleasing to our Heavenly Father, is all about [Hebrews11:6]. Ah, but of what value is this to
those who do not want to believe it?
P.S.: If
you believe that I am the one who is woefully deceived, please do not hesitate
to tell me so. For it is most pleasing
to our Heavenly Father to care about the Spiritual welfare of others.
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7 comments:
I read something once about monastic Christianity, along the lines of an interpretation of passages like Gen. 18:24, "What if there are fifty righteous people in the city?"... the monastic separation apparently being that "fifty good men", or a body of devoted aesthetics removed from the world and devoted only to holiness. Perhaps there's something to that - I won't write it off completely.
Yes, if everything in this world really wasn't going in accordance to the plan that our Heavenly Father set into motion long before He created it, there might be some validity to thinking that He is holding off the utter destruction of it because of the efforts of a few monks and nuns. Besides, isn't there something about not hiding your Lighted lamp under a bowl in the Bible?
People can still see their lamp, even in a monastery, as evidenced by this TV program, no?
What lamp? For they are on a mission to find the One who has been with them since the womb.
It's an indirectly shining lamp. Remember, it's not just waving a Bible on a street corner and passing out tracts that gives out our testimony.... it's the way we act and the things we say and do before the eyes of the unbelieving world (which, I must confess, I personally don't always present the best testimony of. But I'm working on it...)
Yes, but have they not been quite reluctant to have anything to do with the outside world? Please keep in mind that it took months of begging before the 60 Minutes crew was allowed access, and this was the first time in years that they were willing to let outsides see what they were really trying to accomplish (the tourist spots, notwithstanding).
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