THE RELIGION OF FALSE UNITY

During the time of the Prophet Malachi, Israel had been returning to their old ways. Their God had been grieved by their ungodly attitudes and words. They had conveniently denied that God was righteous. Instead, it was more comfortable for them to believe that He loved the righteous and the unrighteous without distinction:

·       You have wearied the LORD with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the LORD’s sight, and he is pleased with them.” (Malachi 2:17 (NLT2)

Israel had once again lapsed into spiritual blindness and had forgotten the lessons of the Babylonian exile – how their sins had caused the destruction of Israel. They had also forgotten the lessons of the preaching of Hagai, Zechariah, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Instead, they had concluded that there would be no consequences for living in opposition to the Word of God. They had revived an ancient heresy that God loved His creation and humanity too much to punish them.

Today, this heresy takes many popular forms:

·       Universalism: All will be saved.

·       God makes no distinctions between people. Instead, we are all one, and we need one world religion to insure our peace and brotherhood.

·       We mustn’t judge the behavior of others. We must just affirm them.

These beliefs are not only a direct departure from the Scriptures, they are also in opposition from what we know in our conscience. Our feelings of guilt, shame, and the sense that we deserve punishment tell us otherwise (Romans 2:14-16). However, as Israel had done, we too are able to silence, or at least suppress these voices, even though this represents a rejection of God’s truths (Romans 1:18-21, 32).

Nevertheless, even though Israel did not deserve God’s mercy, He continued to cry out to His people to return to Him:

·       “Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’” (Malachi 3:7)

Unfortunately, they had convinced themselves that they had been faithful and didn’t need to be reconciled to their God. This is similar to what we often hear today: “God knows that I am a good person and that I deserve His love,” as if we have a human right to receive God’s love.

However, there were several in Israel who knew that they had to repent of their sins and to return to God:

·       Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name. “They will be my people,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” (Malachi 3:16-18)

There is a world of “difference between the righteous and the wicked,” those who trust in Him according to His Word, and the wicked, those who reject Him (2 Corinthians 14-16). We even find this distinction throughout the entirety of the Bible – those who love the Light and those who prefer darkness (John 3:19-20). Therefore, Christianity stands upon this distinction and is hated for it. Why? Our faith warns this world about its ultimate doom.

Well, why doesn’t the world simply laugh at what they regard as an absurd idea? Perhaps they sense that it is true, and the prospect of judgment terrifies them! Meanwhile, they are comfortable with talk that merely says:

·       This works for me.

·       Everyone has to find out what works for him.

·       Everyone has his own way.

·       Whatever feels right to you.

·       You just do the best you can.

This kind of religious talk is even acceptable at fashionable cocktail parties, as long as you don’t say, “This is the truth.” This will promote an angry or dismissive reaction. One gentleman fired back at me, “You have no right to tell me what is true for me. You can only say what is true for you.” I had merely told him, “We humans need to feel loved and accepted.”

However, this too was unacceptable, but he understood where I was coming from. Previously, I had stated that, “We were created to have a relationship with our Creator.” However, had I said instead, “Everyone has to find what feels right for them,” we’d probably still be friends.

However, what feels right is usually a matter of self-validation rather than criticism. Some might call such a self-serving preference “juvenile.” However, it is far more. It is a refusal to consider the question of truth and to open our eyes to God’s creation and His Word (Psalm 19). Instead, it is the stubborn resolve to simply believe what we want to believe in the face of all the counter-evidence. And then to have the hubris to say that such evidence does not even exist! No wonder that God is angry.

Instead, why don’t they just give God a try (Psalm 34:8; John 7:17) to see if He will forgive, cleanse, and free us from our internal struggle (1 John 1:9)? Isn’t this the most rational thing to do? When a friend advises us, “Try this cup of coffee; it’s the greatest,” if we like coffee, we try it.” Perhaps, then, we do not like God (Romans 5:8-10).