Thursday 15 September 2011

How the Christian Church Creates Atheists!


The title for this post is bound to strike you very forcefully – the Christian Church creating atheists!  Well, sadly, it is only too true.  The one obvious example of this is the current spiritual state of the good people in Russia who now believe in atheistic communism.  Why and how did this come about?  Well, the answer is well stated in the history books.  These poor people’s only understanding of Christianity was that given by the Russian Orthodox Church, and especially in the life of a man like the Siberian Eastern Orthodox mystic, Rasputin. (1871-1916).  He had acquired such terrible power and influence over the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II, and particularly over his wife, Alexandra, that he was able to make political and ecclesiastical appointments.   His abuse of power and notorious debauchery led to his murder by a group of nobles who shot him and dumped his body in the River Neva.

It was this that the poor Russian people saw and thought was genuine Christianity.  And what they saw, they decided they did not want!  Why?  Because it was such a horrible thing that they felt they would be much better off without it.  So they opted instead for atheism, and got rid of Christianity altogether. 
What a tragedy this is for the Russian people over all those years ????.  They were quite correct in rejecting Rasputin and his horrors, but they reacted him so extremely that they threw out ‘the baby with the bath water.’  What they did not realise, of course, was that they were not rejecting true Christianity but a perversion of the true faith, as represented by Rasputin and his like.  In their ignorance of the Scriptures and spiritual blindness, they rejected authentic Christianity and expelled every belief in God. 

Why have the majority of the people in these British Isles and much of the western world rejected authentic Christianity?  Is it not for precisely the same reason?  They have been exposed to a perversion of true Christianity by the professing churches, so have rejected what was presented to them, imagining that to be real Christianity.  The population has heard church dignitaries expostulating on matters that are of no interest to the Christian church, such as their involvement in politics; they have listened to them undermining the truth of the Gospel through their highly esteemed scholars; they have witnessed church leaders being ambivalent about moral issues, such as, homosexuality, gay marriages, and especially amongst the clergy – as in one infamous and current Church of Ireland case where a senior cleric has entered into a same-sex marriage under the term ‘civic partnership’; people have seen the support they have given to political arrangements in 

Northern Ireland in which notorious terrorists are now ruling our Province; and the list could go on. 
So people conclude that if that is Christianity, they want nothing to do with it!  In one sense, one can sympathise with them and agree with their rejection of that sort of religion; but on another, they have done exactly what the Russians did all those years ago, and are well on their way to creating a religious system not unlike that of the orthodox church of Russia, Greece, the Balkans, Egypt, etc. 

Is this why you have no time for organised religion?  You have been given such a bad experience of church-based religion that you have had enough and to spare that will do you a life-time.  But don’t make the same mistake as the Russians did, and as many are doing in the western world today.  Why not have a fresh look at the real thing, the true and authentic Christian faith that is presented in the Scriptures?  This Gospel tells you that you were made in the image of God, and that you owe your life to God.  But you have lived a life of rebellion against him, and would prefer if he were out of your life altogether.  You are a sinner, and lost, and heading for eternal damnation.  But that is not the whole story; for the God against whom you have sinned is not in the business of condemning people, but of saving them.  And He wants you to take a fresh look at His Son, Jesus Christ, and see in Him the One who bore your sins in His own body on the cross.  He is now offering to forgive you totally on condition of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.  He wants to make you His child, and take you to be with Him forever in Heaven.

Will you come to Christ NOW?  Will you put your trust in this wonderful Saviour and live your life for His pleasure?  Give the authentic Christian faith a new look, and embrace God’s Son as your own Saviour, and see the difference this makes to your life.

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