GPS Lost

     Of all the things it's possible to lose, it is ironic that Reed and I lost our GPS, global positioning system, our traveling companion whom we had affectionately named "Carmen".  Sadly, this ties in with an article in today's paper, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas has the right to protest homosexuality at military funerals.  I have often wondered how an entire church could have lost it's way so badly.  The church is to be a Gospel Proclaiming Servant, not cruelty in choir robes.  How could those individual members, in any meaningful study of the word, conclude that their ministry is to abuse grieving families?
     I have often been frightened by how easy it is for Christians to wander from the truth.  At a church we attended when we were first married, an evangelist came who caused Christians to doubt their salvation by saying if you didn't recall all the details of your salvation experience, it probably wasn't genuine.  Causing saved people to doubt their salvation is actually Satan's ministry.  He doesn't need any help from us.  The evangelist was elevating man's role in his own salvation to saying the right words in prayer, but in reality the words merely cement in our minds what God has done in exchanging our heart of stone for a heart of flesh.  He was playing for the enemy team.
     Another speaker, who came to our church in Denver, taught that people could be saved only through the King James Bible.  He was proud that his vilification of other translations had caused one woman to believe that there was no true word of God.  Instead of serving God, he had become Satan's little helper.  At another church we heard a music minister who claimed to have figured out what God didn't say about what kind of music pleases Him.  And sadly, we had to leave a church whose pastor felt his main ministry was to protect us from other Christians who didn't follow our distinctive practices.
     The danger comes from "going beyond what is written", essentially ignoring the warning not to add to or take away from the word of God.  In BSF I learned that there are some things you must agree on in order to be a Christian, all the rest are disputable matters, and God has told us how to handle those.  During Christ's time on earth the only people he was verbally abusive to were the Jewish religious leaders who had added their regulations to God's commands.  It is mortally presumptuous to imply God's standards are not high enough, that what is acceptable to Him is not good enough for us.
     We should know what we believe the Bible says, even in disputable matters, but be gracious enough to allow others to believe differently. The Bible is explicit in a few areas like sexual sin or Jewish dietary laws, but for the most part the Bible contains commands which we must apply to the specifics of our lives.  Humans are natural born listmakers, we would rather have a list of rules to check off than have to think for ourselves.
     One of the areas where it's easy to stray is prophecy.  Many Christians believe prophecy is being fulfilled by events happening in the U.S.A.  I do not, for the simple reason that, except in the most obscure reference, America isn't mentioned.  Neither is Islam. It is a dangerous thing to assert that some particular event in an individual or nation's life is a judgment for sin unless it is clearly taught in scripture.  For instance 20 years ago a "Christian" book was circulating which claimed that the Holocaust was God's righteous judgment for Israel's unbelief, however, the Holocaust is never mentioned in scripture and we have no right to assume God's motives.  This was simply anti-Semitism in Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes.
     Nuclear holocaust is not mentioned either. The Bible makes it clear that destroying the earth is the perogative of it's maker, not man.  Despite past pandemics, nuclear bombs and chemical warfare, it is also clear that the Tribulation will be the worst event the world will ever suffer.  Matthew is full of warnings to flee the destruction of Jerusalem, but there are no warnings to believers either to flee or to stockpile food for a time of anarchy.  Much to my husband's disappointment, there are also no warnings to accumulate weapons to protect your supplies.  If a time of lawlessness should occur, Christians would still be responsible to share what they have with those in need, both believers and unbelievers.
     In short, though this is anything but short, there are dozens of harmless paths down which believers can go too far and lose their GPS, Godly Pursuit of Service, and wind up LOST, Losing Our Spiritual Treasure, or worse yet, scoring points for Satan's team.