Profiting From The Word

         Hear me, ye Shepherds of the new millennium! The philosophical strength of Christianity resides in its claim to Truth. The theological strength of Christianity resides in its identification of that Truth. Its metaphysical strength resides in its clarification of that Truth while its social strength is found in its call to existential relationship with that Truth          The reputation of Truth, however, is being brought to task. Its value and relevance are being challenged by a veiled counterfeit that parodies itself in a discolored form of reality. The armor of Truth is being substituted with a loose fitting mantle by an alien Captain of Deception. The trumpeting of Truth goes unheard by a Sleeping Giant who has been lulled to slumber by the lullaby of comfort and contentment. The convicting darts of Truth are being masterfully dodged by the psychology of avoidance. The God of Truth is being replaced by the age-old sin of self-enthronement.         There is, indeed, a pitiable shallowness today that is mixing Truth with the murky waters of a haughty and arrogant spirit of self-deification creating an illusion of progress and prosperity. Wisdom, dear brethren, is being shunned for the ignorant darkness of self-sufficiency. The darkness of ignorance is, unfortunately, much more comfortable than the convicting brilliance of Truth, where the demand for self-confrontation leads man to the excruciating realization of his limits; thereby requiring of him a painful search beyond himself for validity! How much more accommodating, I ask, is the broadened canon of tolerance than the canon of righteous restraint! The narrow road that directs man toward peace with God has been broadened into an avenue of tolerance. The Creator God has become a foreign and unwelcomed deity whose Truth has been reduced to a level of contemptuous intrusion.          Indeed, as the post-modern church enters the new millennium Truth is being shaped, reshaped, and shifted devastatingly by the tumultuous winds of a culture in spiritual chaos. In the storm center of swirling spiritual confusion stands the people of God, the people of this post-modern church, and under her ministry umbrella the people entrusted to her care - both inside of and outside of the church.                                                            Published By Parables