Is Christendom blind?

EDITOR: In my last article, I discussed the immodesty in dress (nakedness) characteristic of the Christian church today. I used the text Rev. 3:17-18 as the basis for the discussion. In the text, the church sees itself as having need of nothing (blessed and highly favoured), but Jesus evaluates it as “wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.” Today, I discuss the issue of its blindness.

The story in John 9 sets the platform for this deliberation. The blind man was made to see, while the church leaders became spiritually blind, despite their knowledge of the Torah (their Bible).

The failure of Judaism and its leaders was in rejecting what Peter, in 2 Peter. 1:12, calls “Present truth” – the fact that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Their refusal to continue walking in the path of unfolding truth led to their persecuting, prosecuting and crucifying truth incarnate. Unknown to them, their light became darkness (Lk. 11:35). They became blind to truth.

The Bible gives three definitions of Truth: “Jesus saith unto him, ‘I am the truth’” (Jn. 14:6). “Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). And “Thy law is the truth” (Ps. 119:142). We can therefore conclude with impunity that truth is revealed in its absolute perfection in the life and teachings of Jesus, in that He is the Word (Jn. 1:1-3, 14) and He fulfilled the law (Mat. 5:17).

Consequently, it is unfortunate that Christendom sees Jesus as a typical Jew, rather than as the embodiment of God’s eternal, unchanging, and soul transforming truth. This is best illustrated in relation to the law of the Ten Commandments. The Jews tried to change the fifth and were summarily condemned by Christ in terms of fearful solemnity and grave finality: “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men” (Mat. 15:9). [Read the story in Mat. 15:1-9]

But the Christian church of today is guilty of similar interference with the fourth; and Jesus has promised to say to us: “I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Mat. 7:23). This will be said to church leaders; not to the drug lords, criminals, or homosexuals. [Read vss. 21-23]

History is clear on the point that the Roman Catholic Church changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. The church never refutes the fact. Evangelicals are searching everywhere in the Bible for texts to prove that God changed it. But the scripture is adamant that God and his Word are both immutable. “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips” (Ps. 89:34). “I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). “I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it” (Eccl. 3”14). Jesus, the Creator, explained that he made the Sabbath “for man” (Mk. 2:27), not for Adam and Eve, nor for the Jews exclusively.

A seven-year-old can understand that if adultery, lying and stealing are sins in the Christian dispensation, then Sabbath breaking is. They constitute the same document. But intelligent adults are deceived, because the devil is at work in the church, sowing seeds of error (Mat. 13:25); deceiving the whole world (Rev. 12:9); and performing stunning miracles in the name of Jesus (Rev. 13:14; Mat. 7:21-23). The eye salve of the Holy Spirit is desperately needed to correct our blindness to eternal truth, and to underline the importance of worshipping in truth. Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given thee” (Mat. 7:7). “If any man lacks wisdom; let him ask of God” (James 1:5).

Denominational commitment is of no consequence in God’s plan to save man. Truth is what counts!

(More on this and related themes in my book CHRISTIANITY IN CRISIS available at Jujube Book Store