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This story is based on a short article.
SESSION 2
(First verse of "A Love Song to Jesus")
Good afternoon! Welcome to this program, the second in a series of Sunday radio broadcasts!
As I was wondering who would be listening today, I remembered the old saying that "a stranger is only a friend we haven't met yet!" So as I prepare these programs I will keep that in mind - you are each a friend I haven't met yet! So again I say "Good Aternoon" to my new friends!
I am Doreen Palmer, author of the website ComfortForToday.com. We have called this program by the same name: Comfort For Today Dot Com.
So Comfort For Today Dot Com on both radio and the internet is intended to bring you comfort!
Each Sunday we will be looking at one of the 400 short articles on the website, as well as some of the longer articles, testimonies, songs, poems, and other writings. You will also be able to download this broadcast from your computer under the heading RADIO - and listen to it when you have the time. In fact anyone in the entire world who owns a computer will also be able to hear these weekly programs!
Last week we looked at the first short article on the website, an article about a robbery in the Christian church, and how God is today restoring what has been stolen by ushering in a great end-time revival.
As the revival of our Christian faith is taking place today, however, false doctrines and incorrect teachings are springing up everywhere. But this is not new - the authors of the Bible were always warning about this danger. Even in the days of the Old Testament, a prophet called Joel wrote: "My people perish for lack of knowledge."
To avoid error, we must learn the truth. And that is what this site is all about!
I shall now read to you an article called 'Spiritual Pollution.'
SPIRITUAL POLLUTION
Many will tell us pollution is our greatest threat today, greater than that of nuclear war. As our atmosphere becomes filled with poisonous smog, and lakes and rivers become unfit for humans and animals, fear grips our hearts.
Where will it end? Will man be able to survive? Why doesn't God intervene?
Serious as this is, there is an even greater threat to man. This threat is spiritual pollution. We, in North America, have more Christian churches and ministers per person than any other part of the world, yet we continue to have social unrest and political confusion. Our great interest in things of the Lord has been ineffective in stopping the crime rate as our jails and mental hospitals become overcrowded. Streets once safe are now places of danger. Family structures are breaking down as everyone cries, "What has gone wrong"? "Why does God allow it"? "If God is God, this should never be."
Many have left the church, but there is a growing trend to return. When they do return, what do they find?
They often find a church busy with social concerns to the exclusion of the vital gospel message of salvation. They find a church trying to decide which parts of the Bible are inspired and which parts are not. Sermons are about world problems, interspersed with some author's opinion or a commentary on the latest newscast.
Bible study, if there is one, is often a theological debating society leaving one cold and filled with unanswered questions. People find a church void of power as evidenced by the lack of miracles. There is little joy. Hymns often contain no mention of "the blood of Jesus"--the very power-house of the Christian faith. Prayers are impersonal, and few people expect them to be answered. Most seldom read their Bibles, and therefore do not know its message.
The visitor, then, looks at the spiritual condition of those who attend, and soon becomes disillusioned. If this is all there is to Christianity, he decides to stay in bed Sunday mornings.
The church is sick. When a person becomes ill, he calls a doctor. What can be done for a sick church?
Jesus Christ is the great Physician who heals. He heals churches by giving His Holy Spirit to guide and direct us into all truth as John 16:13 tells us. But since we are His church, it is up to us to allow this Spirit access to our lives.
John baptized with water (John the Baptist that is), but Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit as we are told in Matthew 3:11. Because millions of people are today receiving this baptism and walking in Jesus' footsteps, a great revival has broken out around the world as predicted in Joel 2: 28-29. This revival began at Pentecost but is becoming even greater today.
Just as the sun cannot penetrate a smog-covered city, God's Holy Spirit cannot get through a heart filled with spiritual pollution. God, in His great love, gave us a free will to make up our own mind whether we want to follow Christ or whether we want to remain in the spiritual smog of unbelief with its love of worldly pursuits.
Let us determine to clear the spiritual smog from our hearts and from our churches that the truth of the gospel may be proclaimed throughout the earth. <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
There is only one way to find peace and comfort in this world - to meet Jesus Christ and know Him as a personal Friend, to learn to talk to Him and to hear His voice. Jesus called his followers "sheep" and himself a "Shepherd." In John 10:4 He says that His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. In order to avoid error, it is essential that Christians today more than ever before learn to hear the voice of God, and not be deceived by voices we THINK is God's voice
If you wish to write to me, my e-mail address is
comfort@comfortfortoday.com.
So after a short prayer, we will worship the Lord Jesus Christ by singing
"A LOVE SONG TO JESUS"
© 2002, Doreen Palmer