Knowing Too Much

After healing a blind man, and after the Pharisees were much displeased by it, Jesus told them a hard saying: "Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (Jn. 9:41). Nothing has changed one bit since that day. Not a single thing. I see it continually in the body of Christ today. Everyone knows everything. Trouble is nobody knows anything at all. Many people are firmly established in the "knowledge" of their particular affiliation's view of the Gospel, and ALL of those affiliations are wrong. Again last night I had a man try to impose his affiliation's 'Gospel' on me, and it is a view that I am very familiar with. When I tried to show him the truth solidly from the scriptures, in a spirit of peace, he could not as much as listen to anything being said. And I've been in that exact same position more times than I can remember, with the same result almost every time. People come across as knowledgeable, and they are, in their own 'Gospel.' But of the one TRUE Gospel of Christ, God's people are sadly destitute. Unfortunately that is nothing new, as Hosea affirmed: "Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land" (Hos. 4:1). And because everyone is so full of the [mis]understanding of their affiliation's Gospel, they CANNOT "hear what the Spirit is saying to the [congregations]" (Rev. 2:7). Everyone "sees," and therefore everyone remains blind to the truth. And thus Jesus' saying is fulfilled again today: "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind" (Jn. 9:39). I think a whole lot of folks have overlooked the powerful truth spoken by the prophet Isaiah on this topic: "Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent ? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?" (Isa. 42:19).

The simple truth is that there IS no gospel apart from the redeeming, delivering, and healing power of God's Spirit in the lives of those who believe: "But ye shall receive POWER, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." And again, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it IS the POWER of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Acts 1:8; Rom. 1:16). John the Baptist, Jesus, and Jesus' apostles all preached the same message: "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mat. 3:2; Mk. 1:15; Mat. 10:7). So what is the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven? "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). aND, "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in POWER" (I Cor. 4:20). So as Jesus noted in Acts 1:8, the baptism of the holy Ghost brings the power of God into one's life, and as Paul stated in Rom. 1:16, the real Gospel IS the power of God. And make no mistake friend, that power is for deliverance from sin. And the allowance of sin is the common denominator for every Christian tradition, doctrine and sect apart from the pure simplicity of the truth. I know this because I see it all the time up close and personal. And my experience is that those who have the most to lose are the ones who won't let go of their erroneous 'Gospel' in order to lay hold on the actual word of God. And so those who will not suffer loss in order to gain the truth continue in blindness and the spiritual immaturity that bares witness of that blindness. And therefore the body of Christ remains weak, divided, and astray of the one guide that God has furnished to lead us into love, holiness, and power (Jn. 16:13; Rom. 8:14). And all that remains is to continue to graciously and actively pursue the deliverance and healing of God's people that is so desperately needed. Amen.