Many people around
the world think of Christ as a Good Man, a
Prophet, a Miracle Worker, a great Teacher, but
sadly, very few refer to Him as the Saviour of
the world. They place no value in His Atoning
Sacrifice, Irrespective of their admiration for
His personal Goodness or Deeds. If they do not
accept His Sacrifice for sin they cannot be
Saved. There is no neutrality as it regards the
Cross. We either accept it fully or we have
rejected it. If we claim to accept the Cross and
yet turn to other things when the chips are
down, we in effect, reject the Cross as the
solution to our problem. One cannot have it both
ways. It is either Christ or humanistic
psychology. Man's problem is sin, and the whole
reason Jesus went to the Cross was to atone for
it. There is no other way, no other remedy.
Under the old Covenant, the Lord did not teach
the Jews any "works" method by which to be
saved; He taught them Faith and the
Sacrificial system. Remember, the sacrifices
were only a temporary covering, a type of
Messiah, Jesus, the Lamb of God, Who would
be sacrificed for the ultimate defeat of sin.
Humanistic psychology does a great job of
describing behavior, but even if you pinpoint
every detail of every environmental and
genealogical factor which led to a person's
abnormalities and problems, the method used to
change that person can never amount to anything
more than humanistic ability, which does
not cleanse the soul. God's design causes His
power to come by way of the Cross alone, so any
other power, no matter how slight or strong,is
insufficient.
I think the modern
churches are drifting dangerously away from true
scripture. A large part of the church today,
openly refutes the message of the Cross. Some
state their rejection, referring to it as past
miseries. Others refer to the Cross as the
greatest defeat in human history. Their theology
has done a 180 degree turn from the truth of
Scripture! The truth is that the Cross was the
greatest victory in history; it was the victory
over sin! Others place the Cross in a subsidiary
position and, thereby, make other aspects
premier. For example, some make the Resurrection
premier while others, Baptism. There are some
who count the Cross as insignificant regarding
the entire plan of salvation. Still some place
more emphasis on the needs, wants and desires of
the sinner rather than the Word of the Lord.
They simply want to make the church comfortable,
rather than preach the Cross. Sin is never
mentioned, the goal being to make the sinner
comfortable. Nothing is to be said that might
offend them. So to tell an individual he is a
sinner and needs a Saviour, and will die in his
sin to spend an eternity in Hell if he does not
accept Christ as his Saviour, is offensive
information and, therefore, not allowed. In
fact, anything suggesting that the whole human
race is lost and depraved is taboo. Instead,
they focus on keeping the sinner felling good
about himself and giving him a positive outlook
on life. The is willful sin, a refection of
God's way.
May the Lord bless
and keep you.
In Christ,
