Salvation or Division?

I read something yesterday that left me in stitches. I cannot remember when I started following this personality on Facebook, but I believe there was a time when what he shared appealed to me. In recent times, I have come across posts that have only raised my eyebrows. It seems like this fellow has become ‘more enlightened’ and seeks to share this enlightenment via his posts on Facebook and has recently started a blog.

Since I read his recent blog post yesterday, my mind has been all over the place, like it had been attacked by a foreign force, the kind of feeling you experience after watching something that doesn’t align with Truth, no matter how stacked the cards of common sense are in its favour. That’s how I feel. And I wonder how many others who have read it feel, because it’s not a good feeling, at all.

“GOD DOESN’T NEED BLOOD TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS”

That’s the title of the post.

Catchy, isn’t it?

And of course, on face value, it makes some sense, after all, we’re not sacrificing anything to God to receive forgiveness from Him. But when you go into the post and begin to read, you nod your head in agreement with the points, and when you’re done, you start asking yourself why Jesus had to die. You begin to question the need for Jesus to have gone to the cross. Then you wonder what the use of his blood is anyway. You also start trying to defend God, that He isn’t a violent blood-sucking god that we have painted Him to be by our faulty interpretation of scripture. It’s only a while before you start arguing with others who have a contrary view and then there’s anger and there’s division.

Is this the reason God opens our eyes to a deeper revelation of scriptures? Is this the reason that the eyes of our understanding are enlightened? To cause division in the body of Christ?

I have read many blog posts here on WordPress that share ideas and ideologies that differ from what I have believed. Some of them I could easily walk away from, others pushed me to want to know more. But this one tried to tear my mind apart. The reason for this is seen in a question I asked a dear friend who I shared the post with to ask her opinion:

What is the benefit of this knowledge to the salvation of many? Is it going to draw many to the kingdom or serve to divide it?

I have come across many such teachings that only serve to divide the body of Christ. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” So when we come under the disguise of enlightenment to share our new found revelation, we do not realise that we are only serving the purposes of the enemy of God’s Kingdom by sowing seeds of discord within the body of Christ to divide it.

“I may speak in different languages of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing if I do not have love.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

How do we hope to get God’s message across when our words are laced with pride and arrogance and sometimes mock those who believe otherwise, asking sarcastic questions that demean what they believe. Where there is no love, there is no God.

On the 13th of May, 2019, this is what I heard:

If your study of the Bible is only to discover ways to trump another’s theology, your motive is wrong and you need to repent.

Those words from the Lord applies here.

We really need to watch ourselves and our motives. There is no use serving a good looking plate of poison to anyone. There is also no use serving a good plate of food with a poisoned attitude. God is seeking men and women who are willing to carry the simple gospel of His love that brought salvation to mankind, the love that breaks chains of bondage and oppression, the love that unites and builds up, the love that encourages and admonishes, the love that also corrects and redeems, the love that is all God and nothing else.

So when next we are led to share anything, let’s ask ourselves:

What is the benefit of this knowledge to the salvation of many? Is it going to draw many to the kingdom or serve to divide it?

It’s a thin line between both!