M-G: 3.19.15 // On Whose Authority

Last year while Beverly and I were on a cruise, a very successful internet entrepreneur and his wife invited us to have dinner with them at an Italian restaurant on board. They were a very engaging and friendly couple who were assigned to the same table as us during evening dining. He was a religious pragmatist who converted to a liberal form of Judaism. His faith reminded me of chocolate and vanilla ice cream swirled. Chocolate represented humanism and vanilla, Judaism. He was way more chocolate than vanilla; I thought. I could not pry him from either anymore than I could separate the chocolate from the vanilla. Yahweh would have to undo that union.

His wife was a devout New Ager and somewhat of an expert in New Age doctrine. She had been a student of the New Age cult for the past 14 years and possessed an ability to make contact with principalities and powers not of this world. She never used those terms, naturally, but I recognized the modus operandi or method of operation. Those contacts of hers were actually demons, but I didn’t want to trash our meal over that depressing thought. The conversation orbited around the source and reliability of truth. It was like talking to a modern-day Pilate mindset, “What is truth?” Fortunately, I wasn’t on trial for my life.

Below is figuratively a “sound bite” of the one and only conversation while on the ship we had concerning “religion.” I made notes of our peaceful table chat when Beverly and I went back to our cabin later that evening. Interestingly, politics were never mentioned! More was exchanged, but this is the gist, and all talking points were shared in a calm demeanor. There was no scoring of points or leveraging or being unkind or disrespectful.

Religious pragmatist: “I believe that people understand and deal with truth differently through their experiences.”

Me: “So, you believe that people define truth by their experiences?”

Religious pragmatist: “Yes, I do.”

Me: “But isn’t that nothing more than saying that all truth is relative as we discussed earlier with the problem of Israel during the period of the Judges of every man doing what was right in his own eyes in Judges 21:25? Every man became his own authority as opposed to recognizing and acknowledging God’s authority over the life of man?

Religious pragmatist: “Yes.”

Me: “They had absolute truth available to them through the Torah but rejected that by their own interpretation of what was the truth, and they went through a series of rebellion, oppression, repentance, and deliverance by a judge. After which a period of peace ensued. Then another generation or two passed, and they found themselves back in the same old cyclical pattern. It was like a dog chasing its own tail for several centuries! 

You know that every person on the planet goes by some rule of authority. There are a lot of people who are caught up in the idea of every man is his own authority as it was in the time of the Judges. This created a host of problems for Israel. They were living as if God was not on the throne, doing their own thing. Things were all hunky dory until God sent their enemies to oppress them because of their idolatry and stiff-necked, rebellious ways. The Israelites were essentially redefining what was ethical and moral, moving away from the ethical and moral authority of the Law of Moses. 

This is very similar to the misguided thinking of modern man and his attitude towards the truth of Scripture. People today are opposing God’s authority by claiming the Bible is flawed, metaphorical, non-binding, rigid, cryptic, esoteric, and so forth. After all, it is presumed to be just another book written by men to control what others believe. So it is simply dismissed as irrelevant and untrustworthy. Beverly and I, however, choose to believe that the Word of God is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice from Genesis to Revelation, sixty-six books comprising the canon of Scripture.”

Religious pragmatist wife: “Hasn’t it already been proven that the New Testament cannot be trusted because of all the errors?”

Me: “According to who? If I was a betting man I would guess this is coming either from Judaism (which is natural), inquiries on the astral plane, personal experiences, prejudice, ignorance, or all of the above.”

Religious pragmatist: “Do you know about the Book of Life?”

Me: “The only Book of Life I am familiar with is the mentioning of the Book of Life in the Bible. The Apostle John stated that anyone not found written in the Book of Life would be cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:15)?”

He considered this “Book of Life” to be the same one his wife was accessing on the astral plane for years!

Religious pragmatist: “My wife has been accessing the Book of Life for 14 years and saying things that there was no way she could have known!”

I chose not to ask for examples because in his mind it was true no matter what I might say to the contrary. His wife was accessing “truth” on the astral plane; I believe she was! From simply looking at her, she looked normal, sweet, friendly, and caring. She wasn’t wearing a turban or vestures with stars embroidered on it. She didn’t carry a wand… (joking). People were coming to her because of her station in life and the ability to disclose and foretell the “truth” that apparently could be substantiated or verified according to her husband.  

Religious pragmatist: It is obvious you two are very strong in your beliefs. Do you think we are going to hell because we do not believe the way you do?”

Me: “My authority is based upon the Scriptures; I do subscribe to what the Scriptures have to say about where a person goes after death; no one is destined to spend an eternity in hell. I believe the Bible is very clear it is a matter of choice on what authority is recognized as the leading authority. John 5:24 (I quoted it to them.) crystallizes this idea. He that has the Son (Jesus Christ) has life eternal; he that does not have the Son does not (1 Jn 5:12). Jesus emphatically declared in John 14:6 with crystal clarity that He was ‘the way, the truth, and the life.’ To eliminate any confusion Jesus further said in that same verse, ‘No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ You cannot save yourself or others; only Jesus can do that. Paul stated to the Ephesians that ‘ by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’ (Eph 2:8-9).

Sir, the answer to your question is ‘yes’; you and your wife, based upon the truth of Scripture, are currently set on the course of hell unless you repent of your sins based upon our conversation. Judaism and that astral plane stuff will not propitiate or satisfy the just demands of the only holy and righteous God, Yahweh; only Jesus’ death on the cross did that for all of mankind (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 2:2). There simply is no other way to heaven except through Jesus Christ.”

We finished our meal with no discernible ill feelings toward each other; oddly, they seemed more drawn to us than ever! We went to get coffee and dessert on another part of the ship after we finished our Italian cuisine. Humanly speaking, I have yet to meet a kinder or gentler couple. Spiritually, they were the enemies of the cross of Christ (Php 3:18); my heart was and still is saddened for we departed from the ship still clinging to our separate authorities. It was probably the most non-hostile exchange I have ever encountered with anyone with such an opposing worldview!

On whose authority do you base your lifestyle? Everybody goes by some authority; is it you, some ideology, philosophy, human system, or the One who was given absolute sovereign authority (Lord of all) in heaven and on earth (Mt 28:18; cf. Php 2:9, 10, 11)? The former is heading for the pit while the latter is leading to paradise. On whose authority are you banking for eternity? <><