There Is Still a Cross to "Take Up

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Do you get them, too? Checks in the mail, like money falling out of the sky. Genuine checks. But there is fine print on the backside--if you endorse and cash the check you get regular electronic deductions from your bank account for some nebulous service that actually is worthless. The smart people who devise these scams know that a certain scientifically proven percentage of people will grab at the unexpected windfall and then forget to cancel within the three-month period.

I have never seen such massive deception as permeates society today. See the ads on TV, in the newspapers and magazines. Is there also a massive spiritual deception being foisted on humanity? Jesus says Yes; "take heed that no man deceive you." He warns against an almost overmastering attempt on the part of Satan to fool the world with a "false christ" (Matt. 24:4-26). And if there is a clever "false christ" we can be sure there is also an extremely subtle counterfeit "holy spirit" (see 1 John 4:1-3).

What makes the problem so very serious is that this "spiritual wickedness" is in "high places" (Eph. 6:12), higher up than probably you or I can realize just yet. Jesus reminds us, "Watch therefore" (Matt. 24:40-42).

Does that mean we must be paranoid and hide from the world in some shack in the woods? Saving-ourselves-at-any-cost can become the very antithesis of all that Jesus teaches; it can easily become anti-Holy Spirit, anti-agape, antichrist itself, if love for souls is not our motivation.

Study for yourself to know truth; if you "walk with God" on the mountaintop, then come down also into the valley and minister to people, as Jesus did. "Love [agape] must be completely sincere" (Rom. 12:9, GNB), and self-emptying (Phil. 2:5-8). There is still a cross to take up as we follow Him (Luke 9:23).

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 17, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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