| From
the Church on the Hill
by D. Eric Williams Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church pastor@CottonwoodCommunityChurch.org The preamble of the United Nations charter says the organization is determined “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, to promote social progress and better standards of life.” Laudable ends it seems, but should Christians jump on board the UN bandwagon or do the visionary announcements deserve a second look from a biblical perspective. The prophet Ezekiel once told the Judeans that their “visionaries” refuse to be honest. They tell my people there will be peace, even though there is no peace to be found. They are like workers who think they can fix a shaky wall by covering it with paint (Ezekiel 13:10, Contemporary English Version). False prophets were a continual danger in fifth century BC Judea. Indeed conniving visionaries misled the people of God in both Jerusalem and among the exiles in Babylon. Rather than proclaim the word of God, they announced what they themselves wanted to hear. According to Ezekiel the dishonest prophets were unacquainted with the mind of God (Ezekiel 13:1-3). The people desperately needed help but instead of building up the nation the false prophets ill-used the situation for their own benefit. Ezekiel likened them to jackals, undermining the city wall to hasten its ruin. This in contrast to their proper role as “builders” working to strengthen the ramparts of faith in Yahweh (13:4-7). True prophets would have argued against the misplaced hope of the people for peace and security apart from submission to God. They would have demolished the ungodly bulwark rather than whitewash it. Thus, Ezekiel proclaimed that the false prophets would be destroyed when God brought a storm of judgment upon the nation, bringing their unsteady wall of defense crashing down upon them (Ezekiel 13:13-15). Meanwhile, the false prophets were joined by women practicing witchcraft who hastened the decay of the nation. Wearing magic charms on their wrists and scarves on their heads in their satanic rituals (Ezekiel 13:18) they cast venomous enchantments on the innocent while consorting with the wicked who inquired of them. Their demonic powers were real and served to mislead good people and encourage them to do wrong, and ...convince the wicked to keep sinning and ruin their lives (Ezekiel 13:22). Ezekiel promised that the occultists would likewise be destroyed in the coming devastation – a judgment that would release those who had been bound by black magic (Ezekiel 13:23). The deceitful visionaries of the UN are like the false prophets of Ezekiel's day with apologists of the organization filling the role of the Judean enchantresses. They encourage us to gaze upon the false god of collective humanity rather than the true God. The hopes and dreams set before the people sound wonderful but the means by which they expect to accomplish their goals exclude God from the picture; in the eyes of the UN it is the world wide bureaucracy that is sovereign, not Yahweh. There is nothing wrong with the desire for peace and international cooperation but that longing must seek its resolution in the Son of Man. The only hope for world peace is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Messiah who, will settle arguments between distant and powerful nations. They will pound their swords and their spears into rakes and shovels; they will never again make war or attack one another (Micah 4:3). Believers have the obligation to oppose false religions wherever they are found. As my high school basketball coach used to say, “the best defense is a good offense” and so it is with the kingdom of God. Our attack on the cancer of secular humanism must be an outgrowth of evangelism. Personal rebirth, cultivating the new creation, bringing our sphere of influence under the authority of Christ and discipleship of others will win the day. |
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