Blog

by Charlie Wolcott

Next week, many of us will be celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Last week, I wrapped up my series on characteristics of false teachings and tactics of false teachers. In between writing that series and working on a critique of an Old Earth Creation book in which the authors’ intention was to refute the possibility of a global flood (in my opinion, the 11 PhDs did a very poor job at it), I have been coming to realize something: exactly how lost the lost are.

We live in an academically charged society just as the Greeks were during the time of the early church. They are “educated” by the world’s standards, yet they truly know NOTHING. In this book I was reading, I noticed the authors directly quoting some Young Earth Creation comments and completely butcher them when analyzing them. As “educated” as these authors are, after all they have PhDs and have been working their fields for decades, I got the strong impression they literally cannot comprehend the Biblical Creation, even those among them who claim to be Christian.

I am not insulting these authors, though they typical response from them is to be insulted if anyone doesn’t believe them, but coming to the realization that they are lost. They don’t know any better. They are products of the world’s system, wise by the world’s standards, and God simply calls it foolishness. All their knowledge is not built upon the Word of God, even though a few of them attempt to give Him lip service credit after the fact. Their knowledge is built upon the world’s system and the world’s way of thinking which is naturalistic and anti-supernatural (being defined as not merely miraculous but also not having any input from God). In the process, God is instilling into me a pity for these people who were taught a methodology and worldview that is a complete lie. I have to ask myself: “Do I see these people as enemies who need to be removed, or as a harvest? Do I seek their judgment for their rebellion against God, or as prisoners of false teachings needing salvation?” That is part of what this Christmas season is all about.

Jesus had one mission while on this earth: to seek and to save the lost. He described himself as a physician coming to tend not the healthy but the sick. The problem is that so few of us recognize we are sick. Many who have any history in Christian circles knows that Jesus came to die for our sins, but so few of us really have a grasp of how wicked that sin really is. Sin is much more than just telling a lie, murdering someone with hatred, stealing from someone, or even having an idol in our hearts. It also includes any worldview that does not view things the way God defines them. If at any time we use the lens of man, be it on ourselves or our culture or whatnot to do something, it is not in agreement with God and that is sin. And no one, except Jesus Christ, ever had a completely 100% correct worldview. So that means every single person, except Jesus, has participated in sin, no matter how sincere they are or how “good” they are. Every person is not in complete agreement with God and that, by definition, is sin.

When a geologist looks at the rock layers in the Grand Canyon and proclaims that there was no global flood and this took place over millions of years, he is denying God the record He gave of our history and thus calling Him a liar. That is sin. It came from a sinful worldview, and no matter how sincere this geologist is and how honest he is being to his worldview, his sin in this matter is believing a lie instead of the Word of God. The same geologists get incensed when a Young Earth Creationist comes around and proclaims the Word of God as having the authority on ALL matters in which it speaks, including a historic record of a Global Flood. Why do they get mad? In a word: pride. Just like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, the Greek philosophers whom Paul addressed on Mars’ Hill, and the idolaters who lost their business due to Paul’s preaching in Ephesus, these scientists get on the defensive because they cannot handle the idea that someone might believe God over them. Just listen to them. When you question their claims, they proclaim themselves to be the “experts” with a “How dare you question me?” tone.

If you know the truth, the truth shall set you free. Jesus came to rescue the lost, the sheep without a shepherd. He came to save us not merely from the fires of hell, but from the false, enslaving teachings, whether they come from the pulpits of the church, the pulpits of the classroom, or the science lab. Biblical Creationists have a singular goal in their apologetic purpose: to point people to the Savior. There is no point to believing in a 6000-year-old universe created in 6 days without also pointing to where it all leads: the cross. Jesus came to save the people and grant them true freedom – freedom to discern the clean from the unclean, the holy from the unholy, and freedom to live their lives as unto Christ instead of as unto the puppeteers of this world.

But Jesus came to do more than just to save the lost people from the false teachings. He also came to save those lost and teaching those false teachings. Jesus didn’t hang out with the Pharisees because He wanted to show Himself to be better than them and to prove them all wrong. He did prove them wrong on many occasions, but why? To save them, too. Nicodemus was one of them. But in order for Nicodemus to be saved, he had to be born again. For his case, he had to scrap everything he knew, start all over again, and start with one singular volume: Christ. Paul had to be born again too. While he was perhaps the most educated man of his era, he realized that everything he knew was useless, pointless, and no more valuable that dung, when he compared it all to Christ.

While in my mind I constantly battle unbelievers’ arguments, one thing I am asking God for is the heart to seek and save the lost as Jesus had. As I battle false teachings, it is difficult to separate the enslaved person from the enslaved teachings. On the other side of the world in Africa and the Middle East, children are being captured and trained to be “soldiers” for the armies, and they will kill because that is all they know. They don’t know they are being used as pawns by generals who care more for their own ideas than their children’s lives. The same is true in the academic world. Satan plays dirty. He deceives people to not merely believe a lie, but to believe it so much that they will defend that which enslaves and destroys them. They don’t know they are lost and need saving.

I am reminded of Richard Wurmbrand whom in Tortured for Christ tells his readers that if the Communist could be saved from Communism, they would not be such evil people. I want that mentality. If those in academia today could be saved from the philosophical naturalism that dominates their minds and see the Truth, things would be so much better, and we would not be having the complete moral breakdown we are witnessing today. Paul is such a good example of this: the most zealous hunter of Christians became the most zealous hunter for souls for Christ. Imagine if Richard Dawkins became authentically born again. The entire academic world would not know what to do. It would be even worse to the political world still panicking over Trump’s election. It would shatter the world and the worldview it’s placing upon people. Just look at what’s happening with Kanye West; both the secular and Christian world are reeling trying to figure out what is happening with him. The same happened with Paul at his conversion: both sides didn’t know how to respond. May God use Kanye should his conversion truly be genuine (as the signs are currently pointing towards).

Jesus came to seek and save the lost, from the starving poor of Africa, to the jungle warrior of the Amazon, to the suburbia of the U.S., to the elite scientists, and even to the politicians. Let us not forget that every one of us was or still is lost. Jesus’ comment about being a physician were not to suggest that there are some healthy and some sick, but that all are sick and in need of a doctor. I still need that Doctor, because I’ve not experienced full freedom from sin yet and I won’t until my time comes. I have to remember that the only reason I have not been enslaved by the deceptions in this world is because of the grace of God. It’s not because I “got it figured out.” Anything God gives to me is meant to be shared and that includes the truth and how God has been training me to teach others to trust Him. We are called to rescue the lost as the physical body of Christ. Next week, I’ll address how we do that: by declaring the one singular message God gave to us, Jesus Christ.

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