Through the Lens Of God's Word [Update]

Received the March issue of Coral Ridge Ministries' "Impact" newsletter in the mail yesterday. These newsletters are brief but often very informative.

This morning, there was a spam post in my comment box. It was an invitation to link my blog with someone who posts about astrology. I politely declined the invitation, but welcomed the spammer to continue reading here at this blog. It is my hope that she, perhaps, will be inclined to read the Bible and learn about Jesus Christ.

On the back of the Impact newsletter, there was a commentary that was adapted from Dr. James Kennedy's (who is now deceased) message entitled: "The Christian World and Life View." I would like to share that message with readers today.

In the center of the essay, there is a box that reads:

"A biblical worldview is one in which all of life is viewed through the lens of God's Word."

What a great quote! And you will most likely notice my title for this post came from that quote.

As you read Dr. Kennedy's message, I would like to challenge you to think about all of the turmoil that is now going on here in the United States as well as all around the world. Also, for those who have been following the Glenn Beck** program and conservative talk radio, see if you don't see a distinct repetition of a pattern emerging from what Dr. Kennedy mentions in history. Has communism suddenly become "cool" to our young people who have been brainwashed by liberal/progressive/socialist/communist "red diaper doper babies" of the sixties who became today's majority of professors in thousands of liberal colleges and universities around our nation? Can you recognize how being "divorced from God" has created a moral vacuum in the hearts and minds of many people today?

I can't even imagine living apart from God in today's world of chaos. The Bible has warned us of what is to come "at the end of the age" and we are witnessing an enormous amount of Bible prophecy coming to fruition over the past 60 years. Israel rising again as a nation was prophesied in the Bible hundreds of years before it happened. Almost all of the 300 or so prophecies which were given by the Old Testament saints in reference to the coming Messiah were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. The remainder of those prophecies will be fulfilled at His Second Coming.

The Bible tells us:

Mat 28:17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.

Jesus informed us:

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.


Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,


Mat 28:20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

What could be better than knowing that Jesus Christ, is "with you [us, me] always, even to the end of the age?"

In contrast, the non-believer, who lives apart from God often experiences what Dr. Kennedy describes here:

"...man finds himself in a state of morbid decay and despair. He becomes nihilistic as he becomes aware of the logical consequences of his view. He concludes that life is not worth living. There is a deep void in the pit of his soul."

But let's start at the beginning of Dr. Kennedy's essay:

The Christian World and Life View
Commentary from Dr. Kennedy

Weltanschauung--that is probably not a phrase one would be intimately familiar with, and yet everyone has a "Weltanschauung." It's a German term which means world and life view. Simply put, a world and life view, or worldview, is a set of assumptions or presuppositions that determine the way we look at the world and our place in it. It determines how we view reality and everything that comes down our path.

A biblical worldview is one in which all of life is viewed through the lens of God's Word. There are many worldviews arrayed against this Christian view.

Naturalism, for instance, is the idea that nature is all there is--that there is nothing in the universe but matter (materialism). This worldview was promoted by Carl Sagan, an evolutionist and naturalist. On his famous ten-part educational TV series entitled Cosmos, Sagan made this clear statement: "The cosmos is all there ever was, or is, or is to be." That worldview is purely naturalistic, materialistic, and atheistic.

Chuck Colson in his book, How Now Shall We live? says that many of the battles in our culture stem from a conflict between worldviews. He says, "The culture war is not just about abortion, homosexual rights, or the decline of public education. These are only skirmishes. The real war is a cosmic struggle between worldviews -- between the Christian worldview and the various secular and spiritual worldviews arrayed against it."

One worldview that rages against the Christian view, and which has arisen since the French Enlightenment of the 1780's, is rationalism*--the idea that reason is the only source of knowledge and understanding. It rules out entirely any faith in God or His Word.

Additionally, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, published in 1859, provided a comprehensive worldview in evolution that made atheism palatable for the first time. Darwin's evolutionary view has been promulgated in Western society in the last 150 years like few things have.

This Darwinian worldview helped set off World Wars I and II; gave rise to communism, which, according to The Black Book of Communism, put to death some 100 million people, and fueled Nazism and Fascism.

While the atheistic worldview says "down with God," humanism says, "up with man"--but the end is the same: man is elevated in place of God, and God is abased.

That counters what Christians have always believed--that God is the measure of all things; that God tells us what is good and bad, right and wrong. He directs the very course of our life. In humanism, man is divorced from God. And that has led to catastrophic consequences.

Because he lives apart from God, man finds himself in a state of morbid decay and despair. He becomes nihilistic as he becomes aware of the logical consequences of his view. He concludes that life is not worth living. There is a deep void in the pit of his soul.

How far removed that is from the Christian world and life view, which says God has made us in His image; that He has placed eternity in our hearts and has given His own Son to redeem us from our sin. We have a glorious calling "to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever," and to be co-workers of Christ in the redemption of the world. Life is filled with meaning and purpose. This Christian worldview is glorious beyond understanding. I pray it is yours.

- Adapted from Dr, Kennedy's message: "The Christian World and Life View."

Hat tip:

Coral Ridge Ministries

* Some thoughts to consider about "rationalism." Logical reasoning is not an absolute law which governs the universe. Logic is not a set of rules which govern behavior. When one's view only explains how to use logic, you must decide whether logic is the right tool for the job. There are other ways to communicate, discuss, and debate.

** Some of my Christian friends have expressed some concern about my interest in Glenn Beck's TV program. There is no need for this concern. I am well aware that Glenn is a Mormon (and as Brannon Howse in this video link states), could also be guilty of EMBRACING NEW AGE THEOLOGY and possibly be deemed as A UNIVERSALIST.

I see Glenn as a news analyst who has an uncanny ability to discover and share what is going on in our current political world. I DO NOT EMBRACE HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.

But at the same time, Beck has given a voice (on several episodes of
his show) to some genuine biblical Christian leaders, pastors, and authors (for
example, promoted Dr. David Jeremiah's book "The Coming Economic Armaggeddon").
At least that is one good thing that is happening as a result of his large TV
audience.

However, the fact that he also embraces Ghandi and universalistic
ideas shows that he himself is probably not a biblical, born again Christian.

We can continue to pray for genuine salvation through Jesus Christ for Glenn. We can also appreciate what he contributes to our nation through sounding the alarm bells about Obama's dangerous socialist agenda and why we cannot let such terrible policies stand or continue past 2012.

I am grateful to Brannon Howse and his indepth analysis and warnings about Glenn's religious beliefs in the video he created at the above link.