WILL O' THE 'W.A.S.P.' NEGATED
"The fullness of the Gentiles must be drawing nigh. The Christian church whithers. And it withers not because it preaches the Word of God, but more importantly, because it does NOT live out that which it preaches and teaches. And my heart breaks every time I must look upon its remnant as abandoned church after abandoned church building is left desolate. And why do you think this is? Because it refuses to change with the times--even with a clearer understanding of Scripture. How many souls are left in the balance without refuge? O' God forgive us, for we kill more than we save.
In my first church, I pleaded with the Pastor to allow blacks to worship with us--to no avail. He was concerned with what the congregation might think and about his career as minister. To me, this sounded like an economic and careeer oriented goal rather than meeting the spiritual and biblical needs of God's children. But who was I to say? I was just a novice, and told so very quickly.
It was not long after this introduction into the church that other pecularities began to surface as cursing, yelling, perverse jokes, adulterous affairs, child molestation, a refusal to help the needy, a lack of humility, instruction and follow-up were abandoned. These were qualities I detested in myself and needed some help in conquering them--not a perpetuation of the same. So I moved on.
At my second church, I was again informed that blacks were not welcome 'by the congregation' (supposedly). And then came the child molestation and adultery charges brought to bear on the same few, no doubt, who objected to defiling the temple with the children of another color. I do not suppose that these people ever understood that Jesus was not, and is not, some light-skinned, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Mideastern... Jew!
Since then, in the umpteenth-dozen or so churches the author has attended or participated in, the story remains essentially unchanged. In most instances, 'practice' does not follow that which has been written or that which should be preached and taught--that is, if we are to take the Bible in context rather than extracting selected passages to form some sort of misguided pretext. There are no favorites with God. There never has been, there never will be. He loves His children equally. Choosing a particular child or group to carry out a particular function in which they are the most adept, or have the most to learn from such assignment, is not equivalent to either parent or God loving that child or group above all others. Israel, as a nation, was initially separated from all peoples in order to sanctify the Hebrews whereby Messsiah could be ushered in according to God's plan. Instead of listing the multitude of Scriptures which attest to the opening-up of the kingdom to all peoples, the author will review how and when this burden of equality came to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the apostles and the church that followed.
Acts, chapter ten: 'There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a Roman army officer in what was called the 'Italian Regiment.' He was a devout man, a 'God-fearing' man, as was his whole household. He gave generously to help the Jewish poor and prayed regularly to God. One afternoon around three o' clock he clearly saw in a vision, an angel of God, coming in and saying to him 'Cornelius!' Cornelius stared at the angel, terrified. 'What is it sir,' he asked. 'Your prayers' replied the angel, 'and your acts of charity have gone into God's presence, so that He has you on His mind. Now send some men to Yafo [Joppa] bring back a man called Kefa [Peter], he's staying with Shim'on [Simon] the leather-tanner, who has a house by the sea.' As the angel that had spoken to him went away, Cornelius called two of his household slaves and one of his military aides, who was a godly man; he explained everything to them and sent them to Yafo.
The next day about noon, while they were still on their way and approaching the city, Kefa went up onto the roof of the house to pray. He began to feel hungry and wanted something to eat; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance in which he saw heaven opened-up and something like a large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it, were all kinds of four-footed animals, crawling creatures and wild birds. Then a voice came to him, 'Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!' But Kefa said 'No Sir! Absolutely not! I have never eaten food that was unclean or treif [not permitted by Jewish dietry laws].' The voice spoke to him a second time: 'Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.' This happened three times, and then the sheet was immediately taken back up into heaven.
Kefa was still puzzling over the meaning of the vision he had, when the man Cornelius had sent, having inquired of Shim'on's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask if the Shim'on known as Kefa was staying there. While Kefa's mind was still on the vision, the Spirit said, 'Three men are looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and have no misgivings about going with them.'
[After Peter met Cornelius' emissaries, they spent the night at Peter's house and set out the next day to meet with Cornelius.]
As Kefa entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell prostrate before his feet. But Kefa pulled him to his feet and said, 'Stand up! I myself am just a man.' As he talked with him, Kefa went inside and found many people gathered. He said to them, 'You are well aware that for a man who is a Jew to have close associations with someone who belongs to another people, or to come and visit him, is something that just isn't done. But God has shown me not to call any person common or unclean; so when I was summoned, I came without raising any questions....'
[As Cornelius explained why and how he came to ask for Peter, Peter addressed the crowd]: 'I now understand that God does not play favorites, but that whoever fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him, no matter what people he belongs to....'
After Peter continued with the message of salvation (to all peoples), the entire gathering of Cornelius' was delivered into baptism and welcomed into the community of believers... as equals."
This is supposed to be the prevailing attitude in the church today--not division within the same house, the same body--but unity amongst ALL believers!!
by: R. Christopher
