Questions and Some Answers

TITLE: Questions and Some Answers
DATE:  September 1, 2019
TEXT:  Isaiah 55: 8-9 – ESV - 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways  and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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For the 2nd time in as many weeks, a prominent young Christian pastor has come forward to say he is losing, or has lost, his faith. This time the wanderer is Marty Sampson from Hillsong Church. Marty, the writer of some fairly well-known contemporary hymns, listed some of the major difficulties his faith has encountered. He said:

• “This is a soapbox moment so here I go… how many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it.
• How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it.
• Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it.
• How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgmental people on the planet – they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people… but it’s not for me.”
• Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God“
• All I know is what’s true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point.”

It is quite a list, isn’t it? It is a list which I have seen many times before. You see, in every generation there are those whom the devil and world manage to convince they know more than God and can make wiser decisions than He.

There was a time when humankind believed that the Lord was in control and someday would judge each person on the virtue of what he had done of left undone during his lifetime. But in recent centuries we have managed to invert that concept. No longer does the Lord sit in the Judge’s Bench passing down the verdict upon us. Modern man believes He is the judge and the Lord must justify His actions.

If you will look carefully, you will see some of those thoughts in  the writing of Marty Sampson above.

Well, I’m not going to laugh, or poke fun at those questions. But, during the next week, the Daily Devotions are going to touch on those points Pastor Sampson

It is my hope that you will remember me in your prayers... and more importantly remember these devotions.

Then, if you know someone who is asking these questions, you will pass on our answers and ask the Holy Spirit to take a person wandering in the twilight of doubt and bring him into the Lord’s marvelous light.

The Light provided by Jesus Christ, our Savior, Redeemer and Lord.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve thought they knew better than You. We have seen the result of their disobedience. Now we pray that You will help us avoid replicating their sin. Instead, let us trust You Who has loved us and saved us through the Christ, In His Name we pray.,Amen.

The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this address: https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/hillsong-s-marty-sampson-i-m-genuinely-losing-my-faith.html and the article written by Michael Foust .
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html