The gods Of Christianity

Last year before moving to Hong Kong I started writing a book. I know now that relocating internationally does NOT help one write a book with any great haste. But in the last 2 weeks I have gotten more drawn back to it and I am endeavoring to complete this work before the end of this year…

So in order to give you guys a sneak peak at what I am working on, I have decided to post the prologue here and see what you guys think. In other words, let me know if this sounds like something you would want to read.

Grace and Peace

Cornel

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“Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Most people love tales of myth, legend, fantasy and imagination. Heroes going off to win wars and defeat their foes, battling against magical creatures, escaping out of dark labyrinths and often coming face to face with the immortal gods and titans of their worlds. The gods in these stories always intrigued me. Each had its own unique history, characteristics and desires. They influenced the worlds of men for various reasons: for fun, for gain, for power, for whatever they wanted to really. They were gods after all, who could resist them? Yet our beloved stories of old are filled with those children of men who dared to challenge these gods, who dared to oppose their schemes, their hypocrisy, and their tyranny. Men who dared to live as free men.

When it comes to Christianity, or even religion in general, there are those in this world who consider the idea of God a tale of myth and legend. I am not one of those. But what I do believe is that there are arrays of gods trying to pose as God, influencing people for fun, for gain, for power for whatever they wanted to really. And if people believe them to be God, who would resist their schemes, hypocrisy, tyranny and lies? If people are duped to believe these gods are really God, they won’t dare challenge, they won’t dare oppose and they won’t dare overthrow that which steals their very freedom. Freedom bought and paid for by Jesus Christ.

How are we duped you might wonder? As Paul of Tarsus put is, ‘By vain imaginations trying to exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.’ In our minds we can believe something about God, something about His history, His character, His plan, His will for us and of course how we believe we need to relate to Him. But if who we believe God to be is in actual fact not Him and merely a ‘god of Christianity’ as I refer to them, then everything we do in our apparent relationship with God, will become distorted, twisted and corrupt. We will act in certain ways, perform ridiculous religious rituals, and cling to all sorts of pseudo-spiritual superstitions and never even stop to ponder that what we are doing doesn’t even come close to what God really envisions for us.

Every single person has his or her own personal convictions and point of view when it comes to God and who He is, even amongst those who don’t believe. The problem comes in when one person’s view of who God is becomes tainted but also popular to the point that it influences the views of thousands of others. Think of the incredibly corrupt view people received, and still carry as a result of Jonathan Edwards’ sermon ‘Sinners in the hands of an angry God’, the effects of which can still be seen today, almost 200 years later. We ended up with multiple generations of believers who live with a distorted concept of who God is as a person. Even more problematic is that many of these popular myths regarding God is continually handed down to the next generation. These generational myths are the hardest to challenge, and when one does they also cause the most backlash, discrimination and persecution because they often form the core of what is generally accepted to be true of God by the masses. If you upset the masses, you have to deal with a mob. Jesus was killed for challenging the myths and legends of His day. Even a couple of hundred years ago the church killed people for saying the earth was round! The gods of the establishment takes questioning very seriously. Be that as it may, I believe it is time for another revolution and for this generation to overthrow the gods of Christianity, gods who have ruled for far too long.

Today, many believers are held captive by various gods within Christianity. Thousands of previously liberated men and woman, who are meant to still be living free, are living in god-inspired-man-made religious prisons. Some have been there for so long that they don’t even realize they are living in bondage. Restricted freedom is not freedom at all. It is time to oppose, challenge and overthrow these gods, time to stand up for the freedom Christ provided and to start living free of the influence of the gods of Christianity. It is time to cast down every vain idol and lofty opinion that seeks to distort the face of God, so we can all stand with faces completely unveiled, looking full into the glorious beauty that is our precious union with the Father, with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit.