Transcending everything else: The Man Behind the Curtain

Jesus, the Word of God incarnate: He said that He IS the Way, the Truth and the Life

Transcending everything else: The Man Behind the Curtain

Former full-time genius, Winston Churchill, once added this to his bottomless library of brilliant quotes and observations: ” A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” And so it is with our archenemy’s principal weapon in the battle that rages between free-willed mankind and the adversary of our souls, a very real devil. He is the father of all lies, and when he speaks he doesn’t waste a word. And he wastes no time in getting his message out.

The dead religiosity found in much of today’s organized Christian ‘churches’ has successfully kept most of an ungodly, amoral and God-FEARLESS generation estranged and rightfully critical of the present stereotype of 21st century Christianity. And exacerbating the problem are churches full of ‘good people’ (many of whom are saved) who generally look down their noses at all of the ‘bad people’ who are very guilty of acting just like lost people. The churchgoers, of course, forget that they were once lost ‘bad people’, themselves. (Christ, after all, did say he came for those who need him [‘the sick’], and not for those who don’t [‘the well’].)

One of the major spokespersons for today’s rampant atheism is a guy named Bill Maher. Besides the ongoing blasphemous tirade on his own television show, he made a movie years ago, “RELIGULOUS”, in which he made a laughingstock of Christianity by traveling around the world interviewing people who obviously didn’t know how to defend their Christian beliefs. A few years ago he tore conservative Bill O’Reilly’s pants off with a simple Bible question that O’Reilly was clearly not prepared to answer. It was yet another embarrassment for the cause of Christ. But it pretty much summed up the biblical illiteracy level of most of today’s believers. ( See video below )

Today we have the president we have: a gay bar crowned as a national monument, the newly legislated inevitability of members of our nation’s male military charging the enemy while fully made-up with eyeliner, rouge and lipstick, grown men using the little-girls’ rooms, etc., etc., because the people of God have fallen asleep at the switch. And now we’re too involved with our cable television (I haven’t watched since ‘87) to know or appreciate the difference between an Old and/or a New Testament - or that the God of Judaism and Christianity is in no way comparable to the monster that is the true power behind the cult of Islam.

As Jesus was perishing on the cross, right before He gave up His Spirit, He cried out, “It is finished!” ( John 19:28-30) And what exactly was finished? Many of us don’t even know that He said anything at that juncture. Nevertheless, Jesus had just finished the WORK He had come to achieve! He had lived the perfect life in order to secure the perfect and failsafe salvation-package for all those who will put their faith in Him. ( John 3:16 )

The real good news, also known as the ‘gospel’, is the PERFECT salvation prepared to precisely suit the times in which we now live. It’s PERFECT for ALL people - even those who haven’t been raised to be anything other than self-centered miscreants (I was a card-carrying member)! And that’s why a never-sleeping satan keeps that good news clouded and under wraps. This really unmatchable GREAT NEWS is now dangerously obscured before a dying world, by much of false or spineless Christendom. The spiritually-starved, lost world is foundering, often indignant and confused by most everything that calls itself ‘Christian’. ‘Christianity’, as the world sees it, is today so largely compromised with the unregenerate world that its adversary (satan) has no challenge in rallying the horde for its reproach and rejection.



The most visible ‘Christian’ compromise is a doddering-foolish, hypocritical, politically correct pope who is every bit the deceiving globalist that is our own Islamic president. And following that travesty, also vying for attention, is a veritable sea of ‘protestant’ (and Catholic) church leadership who have abandoned their primary mission in order to build profitable social clubs they call churches, and capitalize upon every opportunity to sell their books and CDs.

I have to say that in all the years I would occasionally see a televised Billy Graham crusade, I never saw him ask for a nickel. He just told the people to write or call for his evangelistic material. He never beat on his audience for funding. As one old saying goes, “Where God guides, God provides.” And in accordance with what we saw from Jesus and His original disciples, money for ministry should never be requested from anyone outside the family of God. For many years I attended a church where the pastor, at collection time, regularly announced that anyone needing some help should feel free to take whatever money they needed. And I saw that happen. And that church perfectly survived.

Christianity, true Christianity, is the only ‘religion’ in this world in which God has done all the necessary work needed for the saving of any soul. (John 6:29) And THAT is why the REAL message of Christ is so threatening to the devil and his ilk, that he makes godliness appear to be hidden behind a pile of draconian legalism that only a sadomasochist would attempt to pursue. Every other religion (including counterfeits of Christianity) assigns works that must be fulfilled by their followers in order to PERHAPS, HOPEFULLY, SOMEDAY measure up to the perfection of God. Such a concept is a total lie - but it is commonly accepted while the TRUTH is limping along and kept generally out of sight.

When Jesus died on the cross another thing happened simultaneously: The massive tapestry in Jerusalem’s Temple, the curtain that had separated all men (except a timid priest, once a year) from where God’s very HOLY Spirit resided, was torn completely in half - by God Himself! (Matthew 27:51) That was no small miracle. That curtain was woven of only the finest materials with gold inlay and was over a foot thick. And when that barrier came apart, from top to bottom, it was much more than a meaningless, unusual coincidence on that black day. God was thereby crying out to His lost creation - encouraging EVERYONE TO COME INSIDE AND BE WITH HIM!! (Luke 14:16-24) The key that opens the way for ANYONE who will come to Him is simple, genuine repentance and faith in His given Son.

In the rending and desecration of that restraining, holy blockade, God effectively told the law-keeping priests, who had up to that time been the necessary intermediaries in the temple between God and His people, that their job was done. And that day He introduced His brand-new agreement, His NEW TESTAMENT.  His New Covenant completed the harsh legalistic requirements of the Old Covenant - which had illustrated His unattainable holiness. And the new agreement, entered into by faith, had just been signed and sealed in the BLOOD of His only Son. Despite God’s inexclusive and broad invitation, for centuries the Catholic Church kept in place a ‘Rood Screen’ which separated the altar from the mystified congregation. The groundlings listened to an all-Latin liturgy that also effectively hid God’s welcoming open door from the people who could neither see nor understand it.

These days so many self-styled ‘atheists’ have made mincemeat of and brought great contempt and disgrace upon the Bible by quoting it liberally, and out of context, to the Christian world that generally hasn’t a nodding acquaintance with its rightfully-divided contents. Most Christians haven’t read enough of the word of God to know that the Old Testament (notice the adjective, ‘Old’) was the precursor to the New Testament (that is to say, ‘New’, ‘current’, ‘presently applicable’, etc.), and most of the Old Testament (its laws) was (as Paul has long ago told us in the NEW TESTAMENT), “... a schoolmaster to bring us unto (the knowledge of our need for) Christ.” (Galatians 3:24 KJV)

Jesus hadn’t done away with any of those laws. Rather, He perfectly fulfilled them for us. And at His death, when He gave up His Spirit and the temple curtain was torn open, God was broadcasting the message that, “If you will accept the life and death of my perfect Son as the payment owed on your sins, I will be your father and see to your own perfection - myself!” The WONDERFUL NEWS (that the devil DOES NOT want known) is that this New Covenant is not just another Covenant between God and man (that mankind ALWAYS broke) - it is a Covenant between God the Father and His Son (which is UNBREAKABLE)!!!!  (Psalm 89: 28-35, Jeremiah 32:40, John 6:39, John 10:27-28, Ephesians 4:30,etc., etc.)

As you may have heard me say before, when I was in college (a stalwart unbeliever) ‘Campus Crusaders’ used to approach me with their tracts, and ask, “Have you found Jesus?” To which I would always reply (and this was then original with me), “No! Is He lost again? If I see Him, I’ll tell Him to give you a call!” And not too many years after that, He found me. And I have never been the same since. It had been the lightweight, ‘goody-two-shoes’ ‘Bible thumpers’ that had kept me far from God’s gift of salvation. I never had a clue regarding God’s authentic Gospel, until a young lady bothered to humble herself enough to speak my language and give me a completely understandable invitation to the Cross.

The battle today for men’s souls is raging hot. And it is no coincidence that so many today are anti-Semitic and anti-Christian - just as Jesus had predicted. It is not happenstance that so much groundless hatred is targeted toward the tiny nation of Israel - also completely foretold. The move toward one world government is predicted by Scripture as well. Spiritually empty people are, now more than ever, deathly afraid of rejection and ridicule, and are acquiescing to the trends and mindset of the mob - again, just as the Bible tells us they would be. Christianity is now popularly considered to be the most ‘hateful’, ‘bigoted’, Neanderthal, etc., of all religions. And the contempt and ridicule now hurled at Christianity is gathering a lot of its momentum from modern science showing ever decreasing tolerance toward ‘stubborn’, ‘numbskull’ creationists.

Yet there is much good science corroborating our having been created by a genius God. But that true story is also hidden and hindered by a godless and hyper-funded, politically correct scientific community and liberal media. In this context, certainly, it seems that freedom of speech is only reserved for the politically correct. While atheists and backslidden Catholic priests are arguing the similarities of ape and human genomes, the tv-mesmerized world is overlooking a universe full of perfectly harmonious systems that could never have happened by accident. Darwinian evolution is no more believable than the notion that I could hurl some iron ore out into deep space, and expect that junk to come back, after billions of years, as a ticking Rolex.

The present condition of our world - from the breathtaking terror of our ice-cold hearts to the very real, soon eventuality of our being marked like livestock by a globalizing government - was all foretold, as a generous warning by a loving God to his free-willed creations. Ignoring the truth of God’s prophecies, as they are being fulfilled, will prove just as fatal a mistake as putting faith in profiteering, sarcastic ‘scientists’ and/or ‘comedians’ (or even a whimsical pope or pastor) whose assurances and/or entertainment will tragically cease the moment you’ve taken your last breath. If you’ve ever attended a funeral, you have some idea of death’s ironclad ability to ultimately win any argument.

Jesus, the Word of God incarnate, didn’t come to bring peace to the world. (Galatians 3:24) He didn’t come to show us the way, the truth or even how to live life. He said that He IS the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6) And He made it very clear that ONLY THROUGH HIM can we find forgiveness and eternal life. I found, personally, that His Salvation is indeed the perfect package for modern mankind. And that’s because, when you put your faith in Jesus and He (God) adopts you, He is no longer your judge. No. The Bible says that He becomes your daddy! Doesn’t that just wreck your pride? Of course. But as your Father, He will NEVER leave you or let you go! And the miracles of His love WILL transform your heart. And He never lies.

When I first met Him, I was nothing like a godly person. And I certainly NEVER thought I would EVER be telling the world anything similar to the preceding. I am far from perfect - but I have peace like a river, in my heart, because I KNOW I am forgiven. Bottom line, He is my dad. And He has raised me to be a son He can be proud of - something that my keeping rules and regulations (or consigning my spiritual welfare to a pope or pastor) could never have achieved. And THAT is good news: He can take ANYONE and make him into exactly the person He created him to be. ALL you have to do is to turn your back to the stuff you know is wrong (‘repent’, as best you can), and give yourself to the Lordship of Jesus (the only Savior) - and He will, like the BEST Father that He is - make sure to see you through this life. And He will be waiting for you with open arms on the other side of death. (2Corinth. 5:8, Phil. 1:23) Guaranteed!

Dave Merrick,